Help

I’m in a bad mood.  I have a nasty cold and my energy is gone.  I have a “to do” list the length of my arm and no will power to get it completed.  My house is a mess and I have visitors coming the day after tomorrow.  My laundry is only half done and I need to go grocery shopping.  Its days like this I start to feel down; the weight is too much and I don’t feel qualified for the job of life.  I want to crawl into bed and fall asleep so I can ignore the world for a little while longer.  Honestly, I use this strategy occasionally and the fact is, that darn world and all its problems are still there when I wake up. 

So today, instead of the cowardly route, I grab the Word of God desperately needing some encouragement.  I feel led to the book of Hebrews and leaf through it until I find what I am looking for:

“…he has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you.’  So we can confidently say, ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?’”  Hebrews 13:5b-6

“The Lord is my helper”… help… that’s just what I need!  I repeat the verse over and over to myself feeling tears well up in my eyes and I ask for help.  I pray that God will help me to accomplish what needs to get done this day and that I leave the rest alone.  I pray that he will give me the strength I lack.  This is the verse I take with me wherever I go for this day.  From these words of God, I draw my strength.

Make sure you are not confused; God doesn’t call himself a helper because he is weak and we are in charge.  The exact opposite is true.  He is our helper because we are so needy and cannot accomplish anything without him.  We are the weak ones and we have to learn to fully rely on our Creator to sustain us.  God is the everlasting well of strength that we draw from.  It says in Colossians 1:11:

“May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, giving thanks to the Father who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.”

We are strengthened according to his glorious might for all endurance!  Wow, is that what I need or what?  Yes, please.  When I belong to Christ, I can receive strength from the well of his might which is endless; and it is freely given.  Oh, the gifts God gives us are incredible!  Help is one of them.  I can’t imagine a better helper in life than God himself who has all power at his disposal and infinite control of everything. 

We on our own are empty and frail; we have no well to draw from.  That is why so many of us walk around broken, weak and dried up.  We try to live life on our own strength and eventually we burn out and crumble to pieces.  As Christians we are called to live differently, we are called to draw from the source of Christ.  God tells us in John 15:5 “apart from me you can do nothing.”  Today I feel the truth of that statement.  I need God to help me.

Are you in need of help today too?  Read these verses for yourself and call out to God to claim this promise for yourself. Allow him to be your helper and draw from his deep well of strength.   Then give thanks in joy as the second half of the verse from Colossians tell us.  Carry on in Christ!