| Blessed are those whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord their God. |
| —Psalm 146:5 |
The older I get, the more I detest the commercials on TV that show a poor woman alone and on the floor, calling: “Help! I’ve fallen and I can’t get up!” Although physically I may not yet personally relate to that kind of weakness, I certainly can find myself in the emotional position of having fallen and needing help getting back “up” to my normal self.
I’m sure other women—those who have lost their husbands, or whose children have moved away—can relate to the need for both help and hope. Most people need help with computer programs, or motor vehicle problems, or help with any number of the multitude of puzzles in our lives with which we seem ill equipped to deal.
Men without wives need help understanding the washing machine and clothes dryer, or how to make proper purchases at the grocery store, or help with the issues related to keeping a house clean and neat. When any of us find ourselves in the hospital, or merely needing a ride to a medical test, we need help.
The Hebrew word ezer—as used in the Bible—means “helper.” God used the term when He said the following words in Genesis 2:18:
“It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper [ezer] suitable for him.”
In other places, this word is used to describe God Himself, as the “Help of Israel.” Just as God engineered the male and female to help one another, so has God given us His own self to become the “Help of Israel.”
How comforting to know that we do not fight our battles alone. Rather, God has come alongside us as a help.
The writer of the letter to the Hebrew Christians throughout Asia Minor has used the word “help” in writing the following, as recorded Hebrews 4:16:Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
We also need the hope that the Psalmist promised in the verse at the beginning of this devotional. Nothing so weakens and destroys our emotional strength as the loss of hope. We have the feeling, “I’m on the floor here and since no one comes, I might as well just give up.”
Instead of giving up, we can cling to these precious words from the Apostle Paul, found in Romans 15:13, where our God is named the God of Hope:
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
These are truly blessed promises! When we need help, no one can fill that need like our God. When we need hope, He can cause us to overflow with it. When we will feel the loving, helping hands of our blessed Lord and hear His words of hope-filled promises, we can respond by looking ahead with joy and peace. Amen!
