Help from the LORD

Good Morning,

Psalm 121:1-2 (NIV)
I lift up my eyes to the hills—
where does my help come from?
My help comes from the LORD,
the Maker of heaven and earth.

Isaiah 43:1-3 (NIV)
But now, this is what the LORD says—
he who created you, O Jacob,
he who formed you, O Israel:
"Fear not, for I have redeemed you;
I have summoned you by name; you are mine.
When you pass through the waters,
I will be with you;
and when you pass through the rivers,
they will not sweep over you.
When you walk through the fire,
you will not be burned;
the flames will not set you ablaze.
For I am the LORD, your God,
the Holy One of Israel, your Savior...

Two seemingly unrelated sections of Scripture crossed my desk this morning. Then, as I thought about them and re-read them, the correlation between them became clear. I don't know who needs these verses today, but I know there IS someone who does. I know that without a doubt. So, how do I know it? I know it because that still, small voice that speaks to me said so. And, when I hear that voice, I obey. Well, most times anyway.

All of us need help from time to time. We all have gone through times we wish had never happened. Many of us are going through such times right now. We seem to be up to our necks in the water of troubles. We seem to be afire in the blaze of problems. Nothing seems to be working. Everything seems to be going from bad to worse.

So, what do we do? The Psalmist tells us that our real help comes "...from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth." That's where we turn when the world seems to be falling down around us and everything we've tried hasn't worked. God is there. Count on it. He's the one to whom we need to turn. Now, I could say that we shouldn't wait until things are bad to go to God, but, well, I suppose we all know that, don't we? Point here is, we can't go back and change the ways we've done what we've done. We can't go back and turn to God BEFORE troubles, if we didn't. But, we CAN...and we should!...turn to Him now. He is our help in good times and bad.

God clearly tells us in the verses from Isaiah that we are not to fear. I read them and saw that through even the toughest of times God will not allow us to sink in the waters of our troubles nor be consumed by the fires of problems. Maybe these verses don't say that word for word, but it is surely what I heard this morning when I read them. What I got were assurances from God that backed up what is told to us in the verses from Psalms.

We are to turn to God and He will protect us. After all, He says to us directly, "For I am the LORD, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior." How much more do we need to hear?

Love, peace, and blessings,

David