Psalm 121:1-2–Look To God For Help

Psalm 121:1-2: "I lift my eyes up to the hills, where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth."

There is something to be said about stability in times of struggle and strife.  For some, they claim that this sense comes from somewhere within themselves, like an internal stabilizer amidst the tumult.  But this doesn't make a whole lot of sense because a level only works if it actually gauges the discontinuity of that which is off-kilter.  Hence, when we are in need of strength or correction or help, it must come externally.  Enter God.

He is our Creator and our Savior; it is He whom we depend upon always.  This does not mean that His help is or will always be immediate–although it certainly can be–but it means that we will wait on Him for our strength, for our support, and for our guidance.  The reason for the possible delay of God's direct assistance is often, although not always, about learning.  God often relents His steadying hand under circumstances of growth so that we would grow.  But even in these situations, it is vital that we would keep our eyes fixed on Jesus and keep pressing forward to the prize of eternal life in His presence.

Because of all this and so much more, we keep a steady eye fixed on the Lord, the Maker of the heaven and the earth, as our help and our stability when the waves of this life attempt to topple us.

Asking Our Father to Help

Peter, a spry four-year-old boy was fooling around in his back yard.  His best friend lived next door and was in his backyard too, they were playing through the fence that separated the two yards.  In both of the little boys' yards, there was a huge rock.  Perhaps a boulder would be a better distinction to do the stone its justice.

Both boys were trying with all their might to move their respective boulders.  Peter could not make his budge.  His friend was equally unsuccessful with his stone, and frustrations were growing by the moment for each of the young boys.  Peter tried pushing, pulling, and prying to no avail.  He could hear his best friend struggling equally through the fence.

Peter could hear as his friend threw up his hands and exclaimed, "I give up!  I'm getting my dad to help me!"  His friend ran inside his house.  The next thing Peter heard was his friend, with dad in tow, coming out to the rock.  Peter peered through the gaps in the fence to see his friend's father walk over to the stone and, with no effort, lifted the stone over his shoulder and brought it to the outskirts of the yard and tossed it out of the yard and into the woods.

His friend was so excited and relieved, Peter could hear him shouting with glee.  This only strengthened Peter's resolve to move the stone himself.  He tried even harder than before to move the stone, still making no impact.  He could hear his friend go back inside as the sun began to set, but he was still no closer to moving the boulder.  He began to get very angry and started to cry out of his dejection.  Peter could easily have asked his able and willing father to help too, but he was determined to do it himself, without any help.  As a result, the boulder remained unmoved as Peter cried himself to sleep.

Aren't we just like Peter trying to move the immovable boulder without any help?  Life is full of stones for us to attempt to push around.  And, though we could easily ask our Heavenly Father for help, we turn back to the boulders like prideful and compulsive toddlers, just beating our heads against the rocks.

The boulders are there, they will always be there in our way.  How we handle them is the important thing.  We can either trudge against them like Peter, or handle them like his friend and call on the power and willingness of our Father in Heaven.  These are the two choices for dealing with trouble and challenges in life.  Let us then choose to rely on God at all times for all things because in doing so we are doing what He asks as well as what He wants!

Heavenly Cure for Depression

The statistics are staggering.  Every year over that past several decades, more and more people, both young and old, are diagnosed with various forms of depression.  The prescription drug industry has ballooned into one of the largest in the world.  The truth is, depression has permeated throughout our culture that if you are not or have nto dealt with depression personally, you certainly have friends and loved ones who have.

Depression, the whole ordeal of being depressed, is a introspective endeavor.  One becomes so engulfed with themselves that a deep, dark lens of discouragement and apathy falls like a pall over his or her life.  The affect is that the person is left helpless, hampered, and handicapped to live.  And be it self-destruction, self-loathing, seclusion, self-pity, self-love, or at the worst, suicide, a depressed person will inevitably seek refuge from somewhere for relief from their pain.

The answer to such a despondent search is God.  In the end, God and He alone, is the alleviator of depression.  He is love and the Comforter for all our ills.  If we or someone close to us is struggling with depression or the like, the only cure is God.  Although the step to that relief is easy in theory, it can be challenging in execution: humility.  Only when we stop spending all of our time thinking about ourselves and we humble ourselves before the Holy Lord will we be blessed with real relief and actual comfort, straight from the Lord Almighty.

The issue is: what do we do when we are feeling depressed?  The answer is clear and accessible: seek after God, the source of all joy, love, and comfort.  This is not brain surgery but it does take humility on our part.  Only when we fall prostrate before God Himself will we be able to stop looking at the imperfection of ourselves and start looking at that which is perfect: God.  Let us then take this to heart when dealing with such challenging issues as depression and to seek after God to light our paths during the dark times!

Becoming Good Friends

Friends are powerful.  That statement, though true, needs qualification.  Friends can be either powerful for our good growth or powerful for our dire demise.  The reality is that friends hold sway over us.  They can determine how we talk, what we do for recreation, or what we eat for dinner.  They can teach us what to think, how to dress, or even how to believe.  Much like wielding a chainsaw like a butter knife, neglecting the power of friends can be dangerous and disastrous.

A friend, by way of introductory definitions, is a person who is known and who knows you.  There is an intimacy to a friend's knowledge that goes beyond mere acquaintance.  A friend can be predictable while their knowledge of you can make you predictable to them.  They are supporters while needing support just as they are secure while needing security.  The conundrum of friendship is that it is, by nature, a symbiotic relationship, meaning that friends are only friends if it is agreed upon by both parties involved and that the relationship necessitates give and take.  It is the complex dependency of friendship that gives it its power.  Understanding the nature of friendship can be valuable in ascertaining the purpose of friendship.

There are many important reasons for friendship, many more than the scope of this dialogue permits; however, a summary statement of the primary purpose of friendship might be useful: dependent accountability.  This phrase points to the two major purposes and functions of friends.  As friends, we are dependent on one another, not in nearly the sense or degree that we are dependent on the Lord, but friends need each other.  This dependency of friendship is the need for accountability.

A friend serves to hold the other accountable.  This could be as simple as the need for punctuality or as profound as the need to pray.  A friend challenges the other to live to biblical ethics and should call them out when they may stray.  Moreover, a true friend should be willing to test the other in order that they may grow in sanctification.  "As iron sharpens iron (Pro. 27:27)," is one of the major goals of friendship, but the quest for spiritual growth and wisdom is not the only reason for friends.

Friends are also there to comfort and to be relied upon when the ground gets shaky and the tempests swell (Pro. 17:17; Ecc. 4:9-10).  When life hits us, a true friend is the comfort of God that can help empathize and weep with us, or teach and guide us through the darkest nights.  Friends thus serve both to help sanctify but also to live in peace and joy.  Friends can be the personal hands and feet of our Lord.  The power of friendship quickly rises to the surface among further examination.

This should prompt two separate but related meditative queries: (1) who are my friends, and (2) how am I being a good friend?  To be sure, these are not "once-and-for-all" questions.  Rather, we should periodically examine the nature of our friendships, both our friends as well as ourselves as friends.  In this way, we will truly live out our Christ-likeness in a manner that is pleasing to Him.  Let us then press on to have good friends that make us good friends!

The Holy Spirit's Help

Life is hard.  It is full of pitfalls and pains lurking around every blind corner like traps waiting to snare  unsuspecting passersby.  And no matter how aware we may be of our surroundings or how deliberate we may be in decision making or how sure we might make every step, from time to time, everyone falls prey to life's cliffs.  Fortunately, believers have an advocate and comforter in the Holy Spirit, who is able and willing to help us step out of the mire and to firmly plant our feet on the solid ground.

Jesus refers to the Holy Spirit as the parakletos, the comforter who comes alongside to help.  The Holy Spirit is sent to believers, to help and comfort them in times of need (John 14:15-16).  Additionally, the Holy Spirit teaches and guides believers (John 14:25-26).  When we become His, through confession of sin and faith in His Son, God sends His Holy Spirit to indwell within us so as to guide us in the way we should go as well as to help us in our times of trouble.

God has also provided the sound counsel of His Word.  Paul indicates that Scripture is breathed out by God, by the Holy Spirit, and useful for teaching, reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness in order to equip the man of God for every good work (2 Tim. 3:16-17).  Practically speaking, this speaks to the necessity for believers to not only be in the Word regularly but also to engage with it by applying Scripture's truth to life in real ways.

Lastly, the Holy Spirit helps us through the Church, the body of Christ.  A simple examination of Acts reveals that it was normative and expected for the fellowship of believers to care for each other.  We need to rely on the Lord to help us, and He always does.  More often than not, though, He helps us through human agents.  There are two parts to this equation.  Not only do we need to humbly and honestly ask for help from our fellow believers, but we als need to be ready and willing to help others when the opportunity and the compulsion to do so arises.

At the final analysis, God does not leave us helpless.  He loves us.  Moreover, He, in His omnipotence and omnipresence, is able to help us in every possible situation.  For proof of this, a survey of how God helps may serve our good.  The writer of Hebrews writes that Jesus, because of His humanity, is able to empathize and help believers when they are tempted (Heb. 2:18).  Furthermore, God is our ever-present help, our deliver in times of trouble, our strength and shield, and the bearer of our burdens (Psa. 10:14; 28:7; 33:20; 46:1; 72:12).

Because of this, when we fall off of life's unforeseen precipices, we can and should cry out to God, who is more than able to help pick us up and set us on safely on the track again.  More than being merely able, He is willing.  This is awesome and beautifully comforting.  Praise God that He cares so much for us to help us in our need and distress!

The Word that Helps

"God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble (Psa. 46:1)."  The verse has made many a great hymn but the reality of the content should reveals something about both the Lord and His Word. For starters, this verse speaks volumes about the character of the Lord, particularly His comforting nature.

The infinite Creator God of the universe cares for each and every individual that He has created, holding and sustaining everything together by His powerful Word (Heb. 1:3; Col. 1:17).  Additionally, the Lord desires to actively care for His creation.  God is not inactive in creation but is engaged, particularly in caring for people.

No more is the caring for humanity more clear than in the supreme caring act in all of history, the death and resurrection of Jesus.  God so loved the world that His Son took on the very sin of mankind, thus removing the wall of relational separation that sin had built between man and God.  Although salvation is the ultimate act of care and compassion, covering the largest hindrance to all of humanity, God is concerned with the small things too.

In reference to the above Psalm, God is ever-present in trouble.  This is not an isolated theological concept, but it is confirmed throughout the breadth of Scripture: no matter the circumstance, God is present to help and care for our needs (see Psa. 10:14; 28:7; 33:20; 68:19; Isa. 50:1, 9; Heb. 2:18).  All this points to a God who actively and earnestly cares for us.

Moreover, implicitly Psalm 46:1 also points to the value of God's Word, namely as a comforter im times of trouble.  The Word serves purposes ranging from teaching, reproof and correction (2 Tim. 3:16-17), but, because the Word is so intimately intertwined with the character of the Lord, being in very nature God (1 John 1:1-3), then the Word is equally loving and compassionate.  Just a cursory reading of the Psalms reveals the vast wealth to encouragement and comfort to be found.

All this is to note the utter relevance that the Word of God has in any situation.  Think of the reality of the Psalms.  They were liturgical pieces that served purpose of encouragement and praise.  The whole of Scripture serves purposes, let us then strive to grow in the Word so as to grow in the Lord!