Mensa Otabil - God Sends Us Help
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We continue with Psalm 20, verse 2: «May He send you help from the sanctuary and strengthen you out of Zion.»
As we said yesterday, Psalm 20 is a prayer of intercession. David wrote it for the children of Israel to pray as a prayer of intercession for their king, but it goes beyond praying for the king. It extends to praying for anyone you are related to-a friend, a spouse, your leader, your pastor, or somebody you really wish God would bless. How do you pray for people? David says, when you’re praying those intercessory prayers, pray and say, «May the Lord answer you. May the Lord defend you.» Now he’s telling us that when you are praying for people and interceding for them, pray and say, «May the Lord help you,» or «May the Lord send you help from the sanctuary.»
You know, in moments of difficulty, we all need help. We call to God for help; we go to Him for help; we stretch our hands to Him in need. The Lord, whom we call upon for help, sends assistance. As we pray for people, we pray that God will send them help. God’s help comes in many ways. Sometimes He sends help by giving us wisdom and helping us to understand how to solve a problem. Other times, He brings somebody our way, introducing us to someone who helps us. Sometimes, He makes something happen supernaturally. Whatever form God chooses to send help to His children, our job is to pray and say, «Lord, send them help,» and God will send the appropriate assistance.
I pray that same prayer for you today: May the Lord send you help from His sanctuary. May the Lord send you help from His dwelling place, from His presence. May you receive the help of the Lord from the presence of the Lord. After you have prayed for God to send help to people, pray that the Lord will strengthen them. «May the Lord strengthen you out of Zion.» Sometimes, all we need in a difficult moment is for God to give us strength. It may be strength just to survive — not to give up, not to quit, but simply to stay. Sometimes that’s all you need to do: get through a difficult situation because that situation has an expiry date. It’s probably supposed to last for three days or one week. You need to survive it.
May the Lord give you strength not to quit, not to give up, not to yield. When the going gets tough, may the Lord give you strength. Sometimes, God provides strength by also giving us the ability to do something we can’t do on our own. He grants us supernatural ability and strength. If that is what we need to overcome, may the extraordinary strength of the Lord empower us to rise above circumstances, to leap over walls, to climb mountains, to cross rivers. May the Lord give you strength. I don’t know what kind of strength you need, but God is the giver of strength. He’ll give you help and strength. Whatever you’re going through, He will assist you and strengthen you-not only to survive but also to overcome it. God is bringing you into a testimony. He is about to show His glory in your life, and what you’re enduring is preparing you for a declaration of God’s glory from your mouth.
So today, we take up this prayer of David and we say, «Lord, may You send help to Your people, and Lord, may You send strength to Your people.» Let us pray. Say with me: «Heavenly Father, You are my ever-present help in time of need. I receive Your strength in Jesus' name. Amen and amen.»