Too proud to accept it?

But as for me, I will sing about your power. Each morning I will sing with joy about your unfailing love. For you have been my refuge, a place of safety when I am in distress. (Psalm 59:16)

Where do you turn when you are in distress? Do you veg out in front of the TV, streaming this or that in the hopes you can take your mind off whatever is causing all the stress? Do you head to the fridge or scour the cupboards to find another snack? Do you go online to buy one more thing you really won't use all that much? What we do in our times of stress and where it is we turn when we need to 'destress' is very important for us to recognize. It could show us just how much we depend upon what 'we' can do rather than what God wants to do.

Things will always be there that give us great pain, anxiety, or sorrow. It is part of life to deal with this kind of stuff. The acute physical or mental anguish the stressful thing causes isn't meant to be dealt with on our own, though. When we are attempting to deal with it all on our own, we are likely to find our 'fix' for the stress is not quite hitting the mark. We might even get to the place where we feel more guilty about having done whatever it is we did to 'destress' than we felt the anguish of the original stress!

Stress is 'natural', but we have been given supernatural strength to overcome it. When we turn to Jesus at the first notice of the distressing thing, we might just find the physical or mental anguish we 'could' experience is already made lighter because he is taking that load off of our minds and hearts and placing it in his. The more we learn to turn to him first, the less guilt and anxiety we will feel over our not so perfect 'fixes' to the stress because we won't be heaping guilt upon guilt on top of all that stress.

Have you ever refused a helping hand? I have, and it wasn't because I didn't need it. It was because I was too proud to accept it. When God reaches out to you in your 'distress', he is asking you to take his hand so he can help you get through it easier. Will the stressful stuff still be there for us to 'go through'? Probably, but we 'go through' together, not alone. We 'go through' in his strength and power, not ours. Just sayin!

Never walk away

Everybody wants to do something to help, but nobody wants to be first. 

(Pearl Bailey)

Never walk away from someone who deserves help; your hand is God’s hand for that person. Don’t tell your neighbor “Maybe some other time” or “Try me tomorrow” when the money’s right there in your pocket. Don’t figure ways of taking advantage of your neighbor when he’s sitting there trusting and unsuspecting. (Proverbs 3:27-29)

Your hand is God's hand - can we just ponder that one for a moment or two? What was the last thing your hand did for someone other than yourself? It goes without saying, we may deny ourselves very little, all the while oblivious to the need that could be right there next to us. Never walk away - that is a pretty direct command, but I will be the first to admit, I've done it. If it is within our ability, why don't we take the next step and meet the need? Maybe it is like Bailey said and we don't want to be the one to take the 'first step'.

I know some will focus on the words "deserves help" in this passage but let me be the first to warn us against judging who 'deserves' our help. Yes, I am very sensitive to the fact there are a lot of people with signs on street corners who are neither homeless nor out of work. Perhaps I am a little 'skeptical' that every 'reported need' isn't really a reality these days as there are many who have found this 'panhandling gig' pays better than getting a 9-5 job. There are ways to meet the needs of those with genuine need - we may just have to be a little more sensitive to hear God's urging and a bit more willing to do what he asks of us.

If our hand is God's hand, where should that hand be 'employed' today? This is the real question set forth in our passage. It isn't 'if we see a need' - it is 'when we see that need'. There will always be needs we can meet, but we may not immediately recognize them. Have you ever received a note from someone telling you how much your words meant to them when they were going through something in their lives? How about hearing someone recount something you had done kind of 'spur of the moment' and telling you how much that met a specific need? You were being God's hand and probably didn't even know it.

We might not think of this passage as one of God's 'major commands', like the Ten Commandments outlined in the Old Testament. Love your neighbor is a pretty consistent command throughout all of scripture and was the one command Jesus modeled as he walked this earth. Love God and love others - worship God and help others. This is the crux of all the commandments. Just sayin!

Multiplied blessing

All praise to the God and Father of our Master, Jesus the Messiah! Father of all mercy! God of all healing counsel! He comes alongside us when we go through hard times, and before you know it, he brings us alongside someone else who is going through hard times so that we can be there for that person just as God was there for us. We have plenty of hard times that come from following the Messiah, but no more so than the good times of his healing comfort—we get a full measure of that, too. (2 Corinthians 1:3-4)

God comes alongside of us in hard times - that should bring comfort to someone who needs that word today. If you don't need to hear it, perhaps you are the one to come alongside another who is going through the hard times today. Either way, God is at work! Have you ever noticed how you can be going through some really rough stuff and then before long you find yourself helping someone else who is also going through something a bit harder than they can handle alone? This isn't by accident - God has prepared you for that moment. A full measure of God's comfort and healing is made available to us in hard times - share what it is you have been given and witness the multiplication of the magnitude of God's grace!

Hard times aren't optional - they will come. What we do when facing them is where the 'option' part comes into play. We can choose to lean into God a bit harder, or we can pull away and declare we are 'out'. There is always a choice, but when we choose to lean in, allowing God to come alongside of us, we might just be surprised as to how his work begins to be multiplied in and through us. He brings us comfort - helping us to find our way through to the other side of the issue. He also prepares us to bring comfort to another - helping them to stand strong in their own struggle. It is in the 'going through' that we learn how to lean upon someone other than ourselves!

For years, I didn't like to lean on anyone. In fact, I almost perceived the need to lean on someone as a weakness. I don't actually remember the moment God began to deal with my pride issues, but once I began to yield to his tug to let go of my need to do everything myself, I began to realize just how many people he had prepared to come alongside me in my times of struggle. As long as I stood too proud to ask for help, or even acknowledge I was going through difficulties, I was actually denying someone the benefit of seeing their preparation time in their time of struggle put to use in my life. 

It is a hard thing to admit I used to deny others their opportunity to be a blessing, and I still struggle with letting go of my desire to do things myself on occasion. The more I step back and allow God to come alongside in my life - admitting I am not as strong as I believe myself to be - the more I see how he has all kinds of 'instruments' just ready to be used. You may have been one of those instruments in my life on occasion - thank you. You may be that instrument to another soon - be faithful. You never know how your hardship 'prep time' will one day be a blessing in the life of another. Just sayin!

How can I help?

 Those of us who are strong and able in the faith need to step in and lend a hand to those who falter, and not just do what is most convenient for us. Strength is for service, not status. Each one of us needs to look after the good of the people around us, asking ourselves, “How can I help?” (Romans 15:1-2)

You and I have been blessed in so many ways, but did you realize the blessings we have today are often born out of times of leanness, grief, despair, and hardship? I can recount the times when the kids and I lived paycheck to paycheck, relishing a good thrift store find that helped to supplement our wardrobes, and even getting a used car that I could repair myself. We have way more blessings that we may realize, but what do we 'do' with those blessings? If we are to be obedient servants, we are to step in, lend that hand, and be of service where service is most needed. In other words, we who are blessed with so much and in so many ways are to become a blessing to others!

It could be your way of being a strengthening force for another is continually lift them up in prayer - so pray. You might have the ability to volunteer your time at a food bank - so dig in, put your back into the work, and get those boxes packed. You may be considering being a blessing to a young couple without grandparents nearby - so become their babysitter so they can enjoy a night out. There is no one way we bless another - our ability to be a blessing is as varied as the blessings we have received in our lives. Lend a hand, help the one up who is buried under that burden, and let them lean on you a bit until they get their footing and find their path of blessing.

One thing that is so different today from when I was growing up is this sense of community - of looking after the good of those around us. When I grew up, mom's hung out in the backyard, chatting over the fence line as they hung out the family laundry. They'd take a cup of coffee together and share about each other's week. As I sat with my BFF yesterday, I observed a woman attempting to find a table at the diner where we took lunch. It was hot and sunny and only outdoor tables were available. We had been able to snag one totally under the shade of a large tree, so ours was 'premium' real estate! As we offered her our table, she let us know how appreciative she was and added she was there on a 'girl's day out' with her daughter. My heart soared to hear that because we all need those 'girl's days out' / 'guy's days out' when we can just catch up with each other, pour into each other's lives and just be a blessing to each other.

Blessings don't have to cost us much - but perhaps the one blessing that has a 'cost' much higher than some seem to pay is one that involves our time. Be willing to give your time, my friend. You never know when your time becomes the means by which someone finds the strength to continue to go on as their battle grows harder and harder. My friends of all those years ago who brought me meals, gave me hand-me-down clothes for the kids, and went garage sale hopping on Saturdays were doing just that - they were helping me stand a little stronger than I actually could stand on my own. Just sayin!

Abandoned Not

It is during our darkest moments that we must focus to see the light. 

(Aristotle Onassis)

Anyone who meets a testing challenge head-on and manages to stick it out is mighty fortunate. For such persons loyally in love with God, the reward is life and more life. (James 1:12)

Think about one of your 'darkest moments' right now. Maybe it was quite some time ago, or perhaps you are just coming out of that place right now. What did you experience as it started, went on for what seemed like an indefinite period of time, and when it finally ended? If your moment hasn't completely ended, you might just learn something from those of us who have seen the end. The darkest moments of our lives are a time of intense focus - they 're-center' us, don't they? There are hard feelings to endure through those times, and even some awful troubles that we have to overcome, but what we all have in common as we walk through these moments is there is no absence of hope as long as we take Jesus by the hand and allow him to bring us through.

Notice I said he would bring us through - not out of in an instant, but in the endurance of the dark moments - he walks with us through them. We meet the challenge and we only manage to 'stick it out' because we have him taking us through step-by-step. Days will seem darker than ever and our emotions will feel like they are about to do us in as we 'go under' for another round of what seems like unending tests and trials, but in that darkest place of emotional upheaval his hand hold tightly to ours. Leading, guiding, never letting us go into that darkness alone - never abandoning us to our grief, despair, or depression.

Our emotions will attempt to convince us otherwise, but God never abandons us in our darkest places. In fact, he is the ever-beckoning light that is breaking through time and time again when we seem to be 'going under' for who knows how many times. Sticking it out when all we feel is like we are going under again is hard for even the most dedicated believer - sticking it out alone is even harder. When we are going through those darkest moments it is easy to draw back, pull in, and be like snails secure in our own little shell of emotional turmoil. This is not going to help the 'darkness' because that shell only creates more darkness for us!

What we need more than anything in the darkest moments when our emotions are crushing us from the inside out is each other! We need that friend who will not allow us to slip into that darkness, feeling abandoned and all alone. That friend who will remind us we don't walk alone - spiritually and physically. God is with us spiritually - they are with us naturally. Did you ever stop to consider why Jesus didn't just call one disciple? He called twelve because he knew in the darkest moments when they would question everything they knew to be true they would need each other to remind each other of the truth! 

So, the lesson we most may need to learn from the darkest place may just be that we don't stand alone - even when we might believe our emotions that tell us otherwise - we aren't ever abandoned by God and he has provided those around us who will help us rise from the pit once again if we don't retreat from their help and strength! Just sayin!

Kept and Helped

Does anyone other than me ever feel like they were chosen to just keep making the same mistakes? Keep doing the same old stuff you'd promised yourself you'd not do again? Keep tripping up on the same things you tripped up on before? I think we all go through these cycles in life - doing well for a while and then 'tripping up' on something we didn't think could trip us up again. We have to remember these things are not experienced by us alone - there are hundreds, if not thousands of others who trip up at just about the same point! Obedience is really a series of trips and rising again!

Keep me far from every wrong; help me, undeserving as I am, to obey your laws, for I have chosen to do right. (Psalm 119:30 TLB)

We forget about the 'rising again' part of this! We are chosen to do right, not wrong. That doesn't negate our free-will (our ability to make a choice). Sometimes our choices just get the best of us! We aren't really deserving of God's grace, but it is ours nonetheless - chosen by him to live obedient and trusting lives in his presence. We sometimes forget our position in Christ - focusing more on our downward fall than on our upward climb back into his arms. Fortunately, at the same time we are climbing back into them, he is openly embracing us within those arms!

King David didn't have his life all together, either. He didn't avoid the occasionally 'fall' or 'stumble'. In fact, scripture is riddled with examples of his 'wrong choices'. It isn't to point out his faults as much as to show us he always found a pair of waiting arms and the grace he found there was sufficient to restore him each and every time. His please is to be kept and helped. He cannot keep himself from falling - he needs God's help. We find ourselves in the same predicament. We cannot (or will not) keep ourselves from falling - we need God's help to avoid hitting bottom!

We are just not strong enough to be all the things we are supposed to be in this lifetime. We don't have all this walk figured out to the nth-degree. We might think we have a good handle on things until something comes that reveals our weakness. At that moment, we can count on the fact he is more than we need to learn obedience in that situation. We might not resist perfectly - but when we are in danger of falling is not the only time we should be asking for his keeping power and grace to learn obedience! We should be crawling into those arms often enough when we are making right choices - not just when we are making the wrong ones! When we learn to do this, we will learn what it is to be "kept" and "helped" in an amazing way! Just sayin!

Help

I look up to the mountains—does my help come from there?  My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth! He will not let you stumble; the one who watches over you will not slumber.

Indeed, he who watches over Israel never slumbers or sleeps.  The Lord himself watches over you! The Lord stands beside you as your protective shade.  The sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon at night.  The Lord keeps you from all harm and watches over your life.  The Lord keeps watch over you as you come and go, both now and forever. 

(Psalm 121 NLT)

Have you been on a website and taken notice of the little question mark in the corner, or perhaps the "help" button they embed on their page? It is designed to launch you into some "commonly asked questions" so that you can better know how to use their webpage. It isn't uncommon for those pages to get tons of "hits" just because people want to get right to the page where they need to go to sort out an issue, find their desired item, etc. I have one of those movie viewing apps on my TV and laptop. It even "predicts" what I may want to watch since I viewed something similar the last time I viewed a movie on their site. It is the "recommended for you" kind of feature. Wouldn't it be great if we could just somehow hit the "help" button in scripture and it took us to the exact right place we needed to find the answer we were seeking, or even look up to the heavens and see something written across the skies that clarified the direction we were to take in life?

While not all of the scriptures just "fall into place" for us based upon our immediate need, if you really think about it, the times when you most needed the answer, didn't you somehow get to it without really knowing how you did? It is because we have the "built-in" help of the Holy Spirit in our lives, connecting our spirit with God's Spirit, helping to guide our lives and keep us on track with where we need to be headed. Did you realize his guidance and help is just as close by as that "help button" on that webpage? In fact, all you need to do is look up! His presence is all we need to rely upon for the next step we are about to take, or the toughest decisions we will have to deal with.

I brought the entirety of this psalm into our reading for today because it really reminds us how God's "help button" works in our lives. We can look tons and tons of places to find peace, but peace is found in a person, not in a place. We can research all matters of faith and belief, but the only faith that matters is that which is given to us that we might believe that Jesus is the Son of God and trust in him to redeem us of our sin. You see, we don't walk without help, nor do we stand still or stand strong without his guidance right there with us. It is God who is watching over our lives - in so doing, we are kept from that which will bring harm to us. It is like our life gets "bumpers" - we might "tap into" something a little, but we bounce back because those "bumpers" of his presence and guidance help us avoid harm.

We come and go - but he is with us. We have a present and a future - and he is there in both. Herein is our trust rightly placed - in the presence and indwelling power of the living God within! Just sayin!

Okay, I've got ZERO traction here!

Dear brothers and sisters, if another believer is overcome by some sin, you who are godly should gently and humbly help that person back onto the right path. And be careful not to fall into the same temptation yourself. (Galatians 6:1 NLT)

I know for a fact just how easy it is to get caught up in some temptation we might have thought we had already dealt with fully, for I have followed some path back to where I really shouldn't have gone on more than one occasion! I usually am smart enough to see that I am headed there, and maybe even arrived a little ahead of schedule! There have been times when I have needed the faithful words of a friend or two to direct me back on course again, simply because I get stuck in the mire of the wrong place I got myself into. There is no shame in needing help from time to time - there is more "shame" in not taking it when it is offered!

I honestly believe God puts us in a community of believers because he knows we don't always recognize how bogged down we are getting in our sin or compromise. It is like the one who drives tenuously through the muddy area, only to find the rear tires of the car keep sinking deeper and deeper into the mud. What do they do? They gun the engine hoping the more "power" they exert the quicker they will be free of what seems to be holding them captive! The issue isn't that we don't have enough "power" to escape the mire we are in, it is that we lack the "traction" to get out of that pit alone!

I watched a video on social media the other day of a lady trying repeatedly to step up onto a rather icy sidewalk and through her front gate toward the house. She took one step forward and slid almost ten back! Nothing she did made any difference in her getting from the "low position" she was in at the street level onto that "simple step up" onto the curb level. Something like six inches of distance separated her from making the progress she needed to make and she couldn't seem to get where she needed to be simply because there was absolutely no traction for her! We chuckle at the folly of that video, but the truth of the matter is that many of us are kind of like that when it comes to sin or compromise in our lives! We just cannot get enough "traction" to make even the smallest step "stick" so that we can make some forward progress.

It may not be that we want the help of another to see our sin or compromise, but we likely need their assistance to get some "traction" in our lives to get from where we are to where we need to be! There is nothing easy in taking that hand offered, nor is there "ease" in admitting we aren't headed in the direction we should have been. Yet, when we are encountered by one who comes along to give us that "push in the right direction", we'd be silly to refuse it! We could spend a whole lot more time stuck in the mire of our sin or compromise when we are too proud to admit we actually could use their hand! Just sayin!

Principle 27: Don't stay down long

God keeps a special eye on his people - not letting them stay down too long if they trip up or stumble.  This should give most of us (if not all of us) a whole lot of encouragement each time we find ourselves with skinned knees and a wounded bit of pride!  Sometimes, we find ourselves "tripped up" because of things of our own doing - like willful disobedience, compromise, and outright wrong choices.  At other times, we find there has been someone in our path who purposefully sticks their foot out in hopes we will stumble and fall. Now, that may seem a bit harsh to state, but I think there are those who relish the idea of creating a little bit of havoc in the lives of others.  A word of warning to these folks - God won't let us stay down long - his hand is already outstretched even before the foot crosses our path to trip us up!

Don’t interfere with good people’s lives; don’t try to get the best of them. No matter how many times you trip them up, God-loyal people don’t stay down long; soon they’re up on their feet, while the wicked end up flat on their faces. (Proverbs 24:15-16 MSG)

The word of warning today is to those who think they can get in the way of a child of God, pull them down, or act as a roadblock for their progress.  The advice to these folks - don't try it!  Why?  We may stumble a little, but we don't stay down for long!  When we get up, it is quite possible our "rebound" may may make the one doing the "tripping" look a little foolish!  God's care is over his kids and scripture clearly warns not to mess with God's possessions!

Now, before we go further, let me just give us each a little bit of a pep talk today.  We ALL fall down on occasion.  At those times, we want most to blame another for our fall, but this may not always be "fair".  Sometimes we just find ourselves "down" because we have allowed enough "drift" in our focus to get to this place all on our own.  If we are there today, we merely need to look up, for God's hand is extended to all who recognize this is not the place they desire to dwell!

When we find ourselves blocked by another, or thrown a few "sucker-punches" that land a pretty good wallop in our lives, this is when we need to remember God intervenes on our behalf.  Sometimes he stops the punches before they land, but at other times, he might just have a lesson in the one that manages to connect.  This may not seem like a very loving gesture on his part, but God doesn't violate our will.  If we remove our focus long enough from his face, considering other things instead of him, we sometimes find we are right in the path of the "punches" which take us down!

This is never God's intention for our lives, but know this - he stands at the ready to pick us up, dust us off, and set us on our feet again.  As scripture promises, the righteous may fall on occasion, but we don't stay down long. His grace awaits us.  This should cause us each to shout a loud "hallelujah" because there is very little in this life we can actually "count on" in an earthly sense.  Things or people we trust in may not always be there for us, but God's grace will be!  

How long we determine to "stay down" is often a matter of our own will.  We must look up in order to see a way "up".  We must reach out in order to take an outstretched hand.  We must exert enough will to rise again if we are ever to stand again!  The truth is, when we fall, how we "handle" the fall in our minds and emotions plays an important part in determining how quickly we will rise again.  If we are down on ourselves, bemoaning our choices and generally having a pity party because we have fallen, chances are we will stay there a whole lot longer than God wants us to!  When we admit we have been tripped up and fallen, without getting all caught up in how "wrong" we were, God is free to begin to point out how to avoid the fall the next time.  Trust me, there will be a next time, for there is nothing new under the sun.  Today's tripping hazards may not be exactly the same as yesterday's, but they eventually can be seen to have a pretty common cord!  Just sayin!