Receiving Divine Help in the Journey of Life
Study Text: Psalms 121: 1-3
Introduction:
- We all need help in all areas of our lives:
Physically – Divine protection
Spiritually – Divine direction
Financially – Divine provision
- We need help because we cannot make it on our own
[John 15:5]
- Our helper is the Most High God. The God who cannot fail.
God is able to send help in any way, or form. God knows how to help us much better than we can imagine.
-. We shall be discussing the topic under three subheadings:
1. The Superiority of Divine Help
2. The Necessity for Divine Help
3. The Availability of Divine Help
1. The Superiority of Divine Help
- The Help of God is one of the greatest assets of man. The Help of God ensures that you are not vulnerable to several forces on the earth.
- The Help of God is critical to the welfare of man on earth.
-. The Help of God is superior to the help of any man or system on the earth. This is because:
1. God is the most reliable Help of man. Psalm 46:1-2.
- Normal man can fail or change, systems can fail or change but God is reliable.
2. God is the most available Help of man. Psalm 46:1.
-. Men may not be there for you when you need their help, but God is always present whenever and at the very time you need help.
3. God is the most durable Help of man. Malachi 3:6.
-. Men who have helped you before may get tired, discouraged and stop, but the help of God is everlasting.
4. God is the most comfortable Help of man. Philippians 4:19.
-. He is rich enough, affluent enough and comfortable enough to help without inconveniencing Himself.
5. God is the most knowledgeable Help of man. John 6:6, Romans 16:27, 1st Timothy 1:17.
- Some people want to help but are confused, not knowing what to do and how to go about it, but He can never be confused because He knows always what to do, when and how to do it.
2. The Necessity for Divine Help
- The Psalmist said: “Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain” (Psalms 127:1).
-. You need God’s help not to labour in vain, because you don’t have strength of your own.
- When you know the secret of divine help you will cease from hardship, struggle and vain labour.
- It is not every winner that goes through backbreaking struggle. Some people have very little to show for their agonizing struggles.
- God’s help is the maker of men. Every great man in this kingdom is made by God’s help. Your labour is vain without God’s help.
- Some people have better qualifications than you do, yet lack what you have. They lack the opportunities and favours you enjoy. Every man who boasts of being a self made man will soon become a self destroyed man.
-. The rich fool in Luke 12:16-21 was overjoyed at his enormous harvest. Thinking his plan for tomorrow was foolproof he said: “I’ll say to myself, “Self, you’ve done well! You’ve got it made and can now retire.
-. God called him a fool because he made no reference to God. It was all “I” and nothing more. You can’t amount to anything in life without God’s help.
- Only God’s blessing is permanent; every other thing is temporal. He told Abraham: “I will bless you and make your name great. Through you shall all the families on earth be blessed.” When your name becomes great always return to God who made it great.
-. That was one reason David kept increasing in blessings. He went to the temple several times daily, to praise Him.
-. Do you remember where God took you from? May you not become so big that you begin to think that you are self-made.
- Of Jeshurun the Bible said: “But Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked: thou art waxen fat, thou art grown thick, thou art covered with fatness; then he forsook God which made him, and lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation” (Deuteronomy 32:15).
- You are helpless on earth without help from above. Every blessing and accomplishment on earth is made possible through the help of God.
3. The Availability of Divine Help
-. God is always willing and ready to help those who trust Him and ask Him for help.
-. His help is always available for all areas of our needs and for at all times of our needs.
-. Divine Help is always available for us in the following areas:
1. Victory in Battle Times
- The Help of God is responsible for victory in battle, especially in the face of imminent defeat. 1Samuel 7:9-12.
2. Deliverance from Valleys of Death
- The Help of God is responsible for our deliverance from the valleys of death, especially where others have died under similar circumstances. 1 Chronicles 15:26.
-. It takes the help of God to survive what swallowed others, to stand where others crumbled, and to still be alive where others have died.
3. Strength to Succeed
- The Help of God is responsible for strength unto success and progress in life. 1st Kings 18:46, Daniel 11:32, Psalm 89:19, 2 Chronicles 26:5, 15.
- Behind the making of man is the helping of God.
4. Deliverance from Reproach and Shame
- The Help of God is responsible for escape from reproach and shame in life. Isaiah 50:7-9.
5. Stability and Sustainability
- The Help of God is responsible for stability, persistence and continuity in life in the face of difficulty and challenges of life. Acts 26:22.
- The help of God is responsible for motion despite resistance. The help of God is responsible for surviving adverse times and weathering the storm. The help of God makes you exist as if problems do not exist.
-. There are things we need to do to make divine help to continually available for us:
1. We need to remain steadfast in fervent prayer out of a pure heart and faith.
Hebrew 4:16.
2. We must confess our helplessness and insufficiency and trust only in God to help us. Proverbs 3:5-8
3. We must cultivate the habit of gratitude and thankfulness to God always. 1 Samuel 7:91-12, 1 Chronicles 15:26.
- Take spiritual stocktaking of what God has done, don’t look at what God has not done. Appreciate Him for what He has done.
Conclusion
-. We need to realize that we need divine help.
- We need to ask God for divine help and recognize that help may not come in the form that we expected.
- We must never turn our back on God, who is our divine helper, and we must always thank God for helping us.
