Help!!
We often get to a point where we in desperation, just so desperately need to cry out “Help!!” But we have often heard it from others, or to observe those close by who try valiantly to struggle on in silence, and they really desperately need some assistance or “Help.” There are those who find their cry for “Help,” that cry of desperation is actually answered by a person who is a real “Hinderance,” they slow us down, increase the work load, or jabber on and on, when a bit of assistance would be so much better. Some who come to our aid are just “Dictators,” and climb onto some exalted position and start to bark out orders, and to mock and to pull apart everything we have been valiantly doing or have already just achieved, rolling in like a demolition team. Then there are the “Control Freaks,” they just want you to know that they just know everything, you are always wrong, they are just perfectly right all the time, and pick and accuse everything and then vainly try to “Micro-Manage,” or try to dictate on every move you make, just slowing you down even further. One often wonders how close you were to becoming victorious, just before they came in like a tornado, hindering or stopping all further activity. The Humorist once said, “I threw in the towel, but God threw it straight back to me and said, a couple of more swings and you will be victorious.”
Isaac Watts wrote this Hymn ages ago, but it is still true today, Quote; “O God, our help in ages past, our hope for years to come, our shelter from the stormy blast, and our eternal home:” Psalm 46:1b “God [is] our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.” Galatians 6:2 “Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.” “Help!!” did you hear the cry, did you see the need, did you step right on up, or like those in the “Good Samaritan” story, just casually avert your gaze and casually pass by on the other side. The Comic once said, “Those who say it just ‘Can’t be done,’ are often passed by those who are currently already doing it.” When we heed the advice of Paul in Galatians 6:2 “Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.” Did that mean you “Helped” them, did you step right up and put your shoulder under their burden, did you gossip it far and wide, even post it on social media, rub salt into their predicament, or did you bulldoze in and then sing, “I did it My Way.” They just wanted a plain helping hand, so did you even offer, or what was it that you did for them? James 2:15-17 “If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, and one of you say unto them, depart in peace, be [ye] warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what [doth it] profit? Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.”
Quote; “The Lord sends help to His people, not always as they may choose, but as they need; for men are shortsighted and cannot discern what is for their highest good. It is seldom that one minister has all the qualifications necessary to perfect a church in all the requirements of Christianity; therefore God often sends to them other ministers, each possessing some qualifications in which the others were deficient”. {AA 277} Quote; “”Let us not love in word,” the apostle writes, “but in deed and in truth.” The completeness of Christian character is attained when the impulse to help and bless others springs constantly from within. It is the atmosphere of this love surrounding the soul of the believer that makes him a savor of life unto life and enables God to bless his work. Supreme love for God and unselfish love for one another–this is the best gift that our heavenly Father can bestow. This love is not an impulse, but a divine principle, a permanent power. The unconsecrated heart cannot originate or produce it. Only in the heart where Jesus reigns is it found. “We love Him, because He first loved us.” In the heart renewed by divine grace, love is the ruling principle of action. It modifies the character, governs the impulses, controls the passions, and ennobles the affections. This love, cherished in the soul, sweetens the life and sheds a refining influence on all around. {AA 551}
Quote; “Many are sailing in a dangerous harbor. They need a pilot; but they scorn to accept the much-needed help, feeling that they are competent to guide their own bark, and not realizing that it is about to strike a hidden rock that may cause them to make shipwreck of faith and happiness. . . Unless they are diligent students of that word [the Bible], they will make grave mistakes which will mar their happiness and that of others, both for the present and the future life. {AH 70} Quote; “When you are almost ready to yield, to lose patience and self-control, to be hard and denunciatory, to find fault and accuse–this is the time for you to send to heaven the prayer, “Help me, O God, to resist temptation, to put all bitterness and wrath and evilspeaking out of my heart. Give me Thy meekness, Thy lowliness, Thy long-suffering, and Thy love. Leave me not to dishonor my Redeemer, to misinterpret the words and motives of my wife, my children, and my brethren and sisters in the faith. Help me that I may be kind, pitiful, tenderhearted, forgiving. Help me to be a real house-band in my home and to represent the character of Christ to others.” {AH 214} Quote; “Let every family seek the Lord in earnest prayer for help to do the work of God. Let them overcome the habits of hasty speech and the desire to blame others. Let them study to be kind and courteous in the home, to form habits of thoughtfulness and care. {AH 438} Let us in every way and every day seek to be a “Help!” and not a hinderance, representing God and leading other to the Kingdom.
