Unless the Lord had Helped Me…
Posted by Sandy in Christian Living, Confidence in God, Experiencing God, God's Faithfulness, God's power, Gospel Message, tags: Psalms17Unless the LORD had helped me,
I would soon have died.
18I cried out, “I’m slipping!”
and your unfailing love, O LORD, supported me.
19When doubts filled my mind,
your comfort gave me renewed hope and cheer.
Psalm 94:17-19 (NLT)
Note to Readers: Hi friends! I had promised the release of my new Bible study on the book of Jonah today. I’m afraid it’s not quite ready. I still have several permissions to obtain for quotes included in the study. I do apologize and hope to release it soon. Watch this space for More than Fish Story, God Moving on Behalf of a City and a Man.
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Unless the Lord had Helped Me…
17Unless the LORD had helped me,
I would soon have died.
18I cried out, “I’m slipping!”
and your unfailing love, O LORD, supported me.
19When doubts filled my mind,
your comfort gave me renewed hope and cheer.
Psalm 94:17-19 (NLT)
I love this passage from today’s Resting at the River’s Edge reading. Three short verses but so much to be gleaned from them.
The psalmist surely did not die (as evidenced by the writing of the Psalm), but he recognizes that it was only by God’s grace that he is alive today. Sometimes Psalms like this seem a bit melodramatic. Was the psalmist really at death’s door? At least that’s what my sometimes skeptical mind asks. Then it occurs to me that there are many kinds of death. Yes, the psalmist may well have been at death’s door and God intervened to save him. Or perhaps the psalmist is talking about the death of sin. Scripture tells us that the penalty for sin is death and that each sin causes a death in our relationship with God and in most cases with others as well. God has made a way for that relationship with Him to be repaired, and that’s in the substitutionary death of His Son, Jesus. When we turn to Jesus asking Him to take our life, He turns to the Father and says “The punishment for his (or her) sin has already been paid. I died for that sin so that he (or she) can live through me.” “Soon” is a relative term, and most likely within the next fifty years I will be at death’s door. Having given my life to Jesus while here on earth, when that time comes, He will step in and say “I died for you – your life in eternity with the Lord begins now.” Unless the Lord had helped me…
God’s unfailing love supports us when we are slipping. Hallelujah! All that’s required is that we call out and ask for His help. But it’s oh, so hard to call out for help sometimes. Why, oh why, oh why, do we resist calling out? Why do we wait until we are on the very precipice of slipping instead of calling out when we still have a little space between us and the precipice? Or better yet, why don’t we cry out for help before we even see the precipice, knowing that God will help us avoid it? (Sigh. Lord, help me to remember this lesson because I so frequently forget it.)
God’s unfailing love supports us when we are slipping (part 2). It props us up. It keeps us from falling. It enables us to stand. Perhaps you’ve experienced this in the natural. Perhaps there is someone in your life in whose love you are so secure that it gives you confidence to step into new areas and adventures. When you’ve committed your life to the Lord, you can be even more secure in His unfailing love. You may fail, but His love does not fail. When we cry out, his unfailing love supports us.
When we’re hanging over that precipice about to slip, sometimes doubts fill our minds. “Will He really help me if I cry out?” “If I had cried out sooner, the Lord would have helped me, but will He help me now?” “I have failed so many times, why should He help me now?” “Can God really…?” “Will God really…” The answers are yes, yes, because He loves you, yes and yes! When doubts assail us, God steps in with His assurance. His Word comes to our mind and a pin prick of hope turns into a beam of light that enables us to cry out for help.
The knowledge that God can and will save us is beyond comforting and changes our perspective to hope and cheer. After He has saved us the first time, we live in the experiential knowledge and reality of His salvation (eternal and temporal). His history with us brings renewed hope and cheer.
I love the Lord. He heard my cry. He’ll hear yours, too. Whether it’s that first cry for salvation, or the cry for help in any situation. He will hear and He will help. His comfort will renew your hope and change your attitude from despair to joy. Have a blessed week friends!
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