Sovereign Lord, help me for Your name’s sake. Out of the goodness of Your love, deliver me….Our help is in the name of the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth….Blessed are those whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord their God. (Psalm 109:21, 124:8, 146:5)
Newton’s Poem
John Newton (1725-1807) was a captain on slave ships and was himself enslaved for a while in West Africa. He was brought to faith in Jesus Christ in 1748, and quit profanity, gambling, and drinking right away. Bigger changes came later. Newton later became a slavery abolitionist, Christian pastor, and hymnwriter. In 1770 he wrote a poem entitled “The Kite.”1 Newton gives the kite a human personality to teach us life lessons.
In the poem, the hite says “Were I but free, I’d take a flight, And pierce the clouds beyond their sight, But, ah! like a poor prisoner bound, My string confines me near the ground.” The kite was proud of how high it was flying, and felt it could soar higher if not controlled by the string and the person holding it back. After tugging and pulling, the kite broke free. But it couldn’t fly without the string and plunged into the ocean.
Newton’s poem illustrates how our pride often leads to our fall. We are reluctant to admit our absolute dependence on God, but Jesus said, “Apart from me you can do nothing.”2 Are we haughty about our achievements, forgetting that God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) gave us all the opportunities and abilities to achieve any success, large or small? Do we resent the Lord’s limits and constraints, forgetting that His providence that makes us feel tied down keeps us from crashing and burning?
Jesus says: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”3 Christ’s yoke of discipleship gives us relief from the weight of man-made rules and human oppression because commitment to Jesus is life-giving. Following and depending on Christ makes the load of life manageable and joyful.
This post builds on Help Me, Lord! (Part 1) and here are more Scriptures:
Psalm Fragments
Psalm 40:13 Be pleased to save me, Lord. Come quickly, Lord, to help me.
Psalm 40:17 I am poor and needy. May the Lord think of me. You are my help and my deliverer. You are my God, do not delay.
Psalm 54:4 Surely God is my help. The Lord is the one who sustains me.
Psalm 56:9 Then my enemies will turn back when I call for help. By this I will know that God is for me.
Psalm 59:4 I have done no wrong, yet they are ready to attack me. Arise to help me. Look on my plight!
Christ Helps With Many Things
In the Book of Psalms, we can’t always tell the exact problems the writers are facing. That’s OK, because the whole Bible shows us God helping His followers in hundreds of ways including these:
- Caring for our physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual needs
- Giving us healing, peace, and rest
- Providing guidance and direction
- Leading us away from temptation
- Delivering us from evil
- Saving us from our sins, our selves, and our enemies
- Teaching us His wisdom, truth, and ways of righteousness
- Providing blessings we do not ask for or even know we need
- Equipping us spiritually, giving us all we need for every good work
- Giving us His constant love and care that endures forever
Let’s ask God to help in all these ways. And as we come to understand the Bible more, we see more ways the Lord has helped people in the past and gain confidence that He will help us and others in similar ways now.
Since, with God-given affection, On the Lord you’ve set your love,
With the wings of His protection, He will shield you from above.
You shall call on Him in trouble, He will listen and He will save.
For your grief, He will reward you double. And crown you with life beyond the grave.4
More Psalm Fragments
Psalm 69:20 Scorn has broken my heart and has left me helpless. I looked for sympathy, but there was none, for comforters, but I found none.
Psalm 70:1 Hasten, O God, to save me. Come quickly, Lord, to help me.
Psalm 70:5 I am poor and needy. Come quickly to me, O God. You are my help and my deliverer. Lord, do not delay.
Psalm 71:12 Do not be far from me, my God. Come quickly, God, to help me.
Psalm 77:1 I cried out to God for help. I cried out to God to hear me.
The Persistent Widow
Jesus told a parable in Luke chapter 18 to teach us that we should always pray and never give up. Christ tells of a judge who didn’t fear God or care about people. A widow came to him repeatedly, saying, “Give me justice in this dispute with my enemy.” The judge ignored her for a while, but finally said to himself, “I don’t care about God or people, but this pesty woman is driving me crazy. I’m going to help her because she’s wearing me out with her constant requests!”
Then the Lord Jesus said, “Learn a lesson from this unjust judge. If even he helped the widow in the end, won’t my Heavenly Father treat you better? God will surely help His chosen people who cry out to Him day and night. He won’t keep putting us off. He will help us! But when the Son of Man returns, how many people will He find on the earth who trust and obey Him?”5
Prayer
Heavenly Father, my life feels messy. Things are not going smoothly. I have caused some of my problems, others have hurt me, some bad things just happened. Sometimes I feel angry, fearful, lonely, sad, and guilty. Sometimes I feel nothing at all. Help me through these tough times. Bring good, kind, honest people along my path. Give me wisdom to make right choices. Help me for Jesus’ sake. Amen.6
To be continued.
Notes (various Bible translations): 1 webtruth.org. 2 John 15:5. 3 Matt 11:28-30. 4 Adapted from a metrical paraphrase of Psalm 91. 5 Paraphrase of Luke 18:1-8. 6 Adapted from missionaustralia.com.au, “Prayer for Difficult Times.”