Mensa Otabil - Give Us Help, O Lord
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Psalm 60, verses 11 and 12, give us help from trouble, for the help of man is useless. Through God, we will do valiantly, for it is He who shall tread down our enemies. We started the week talking about Elijah after a time of great success, then experiencing depression and running for his life. The question we’ve been trying to answer is where we run to when we feel lonely and why we feel lonely at all. This passage here states that the Lord is the one who gives us help.
So, the question we ask is: Are there people that God cannot help? Are there people beyond God’s help? Definitely, there is no one beyond God’s help, but there are people who make it difficult to receive God’s help. They disconnect themselves from God’s assistance, and basically, they are those who trust in other gods. If you don’t trust in the Lord God Jehovah, the God of the Bible, you cannot expect help from Him. When you trust in other gods, you disconnect from God’s help. Then there are those who trust in themselves; they also disconnect from God’s assistance. However, God’s help is available for each one of us. Sometimes we are so filled with our sense of power and accomplishment that we look at what we’ve done-titles we’ve accumulated, education-and we think we can solve every one of life’s problems by ourselves until something hits us that is so great that we realize there is something beyond us, and we need to go to the Lord.
In the Bible, you will find that any time Israel turned away from God and went to other gods, they entered a time of national crisis. It is the same today: when we turn away from God, we encounter crises. Someone may say, «Well, Pastor, I haven’t turned away from God.» However, you can go to church, read your Bible, and still turn away from God because you turn away from God when what you trust in and have faith in is not God. Sometimes what you have faith in is yourself or your own power. Other times, it is another person-someone powerful or significant, or a promise someone has given you. Sometimes we dabble in all kinds of things, so we go to church, read the Bible, and pray, but there is no faith in God. Consequently, people sometimes pray to God but do not expect any answers; they don’t expect something to happen. They simply do it because it is required of them.
So, who is your help? Is your trust in the Lord? When your life is in danger, when you feel lonely, where do you run to for help? Do you immediately try to call a pastor, a man of God? It’s good to call a man of God or a woman of God to pray for you, but I think the first thing you should do when you’re in trouble is to pray yourself. Talk to God yourself; that shows that your faith is in God.
So, when you ask a pastor to help you in prayer, you’re not asking him because he’s extraordinary, but you are asking a fellow believer to help you talk to God in intercession on your behalf. The passage we’ve read today says that when we trust God, we will do valiantly; we will do mighty things. I trust that God will use you to do mighty things and that the Lord will act powerfully in your life. The passage states that through God we will do valiantly, for it is He who shall tread down our enemies. May your trust be in the Lord who enables you to do valiant deeds; may your trust be in the Lord who treads down all your enemies. Don’t take your battle upon yourself; don’t fight alone. Just trust in the Lord, and He will give you the victory. Through our God, we shall do valiantly.
Let’s pray. Say with me: Heavenly Father, You are my help in times of trouble. Through You, I will do valiantly. In Jesus' name, amen and amen.