Help!

This morning I asked God what was on his heart and this was his response:

I am saddened by how many of my children are burdened by anxiety and stress due to their circumstances that they are carrying themselves. I am saddened that they are not coming to me but are “soldiering on” alone, weighed down and focused on their problems which seem to grow each day.

I was reminded of the idea that what we focus on is magnified in our lives. It is why worship is so important as we remember who God is, his majesty, power, justice, righteousness, provision, protection and so much more. Everything else takes on appropriate proportions in the contemplation of just how big our God is. I find that the more I focus on my issues, my sin, my problems that need fixing, the bigger they seem until they can fill my waking thoughts and even my sleeping thoughts. Many of us can testify to disturbed sleep when we toss and turn trying to work out how to solve a problem.

I asked God what he wanted to say to those us burdened with anxiety or worry at this time. This is his response:

Look up! I am here. I have a solution for your every problem, provision for your every need. Look up! I am your very present, oh so present, help in times of need. Look up! I am here. I have not left you as orphans. I have not left you alone. I am here. Look up!

Immediately I was taken to Psalm 46 and I make no apology for quoting it fully here:

God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging. There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells. God is within her, she will not fall; God will help her at break of day. Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall; he lifts his voice, the earth melts. The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Come and see what the Lord has done, the desolations he has brought on the earth. He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth. He breaks the bow and shatters the spear; he burns the shields with fire. He says, ‘Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.’ The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.‬‬

There’s a lot to meditate on and unpack in that! Questions to ask him. Psalm 121 is also worth reading all of, in this context, but we are reminded in the second verse that: though we might look around us:

My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.

Whilst the concept of soldiering on is one of perseverance, of enduring, which are godly qualities, God’s plan is not for us to do it alone. Our help comes from him. Sometimes it comes supernaturally, sometimes through the family and friends he has put around us, or even on occasion, complete strangers, but I think one of the things that he is breaking down in this time is our wrong determination to soldier on alone. Often I think it is pride, sometimes it is shame (which can be rooted in pride). We need to be able to ask for help. I have been challenged recently as I have seen people publicly asking for financial help. I have had to face how I feel about it and the judgments that come up in my heart, allowing God to challenge my opinions, my long-held mindsets.

I find that my thoughts around money; how to use it and how to receive it have been severely challenged this year. It can be a very emotive and complex subject to navigate. Maybe that is why Jesus has so much to say about money and possessions!

Whatever the case, I am trying, in the process of navigating this year’s adventure, to choose faith over fear, to choose stretching and growth over false security and stagnation, to choose life and adventure! That process starts daily with an acknowledgement that I need help. The help and encouragement of those he has brought alongside me but critically the help of my heavenly Father who reminded me this morning, in Psalm 86:15, that He is:

a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness.

Abounding, overflowing in love towards me, and you. His love is like an ever-gushing waterfall flowing over us that never stops, never dries up. It’s good to remind ourselves in the midst of whatever is going on with us today of his love and faithfulness. He exhorts us in Matthew 11:28

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.

Step one is acknowledging we need his help. Step two is looking up and asking for it. And step three is receiving the help he gives how and when he chooses to give it!