Help From Faith

“The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in him, and I am helped: therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; and with my song will I praise him.” (Ps 28:7 AV)

 

There is no escaping the fact that trust and attaining help from God are inseparably united.  One cannot attain help from God without exercising some level of faith.  James states,  “But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.” (Jas 1:6-7 AV)  The intimation here is clear.  Without believing, there is no chance we will receive that which we ask for.  What is especially pertinent in our verse for the day is exactly what it was that was granted.  Or, that which David needed help with.  The heart was David’s greatest need and concern.  His emotional challenge amid adversity was his greatest need.  When he decided to surrender those emotions to the LORD and the heart along with them, God helped him!

On a personal note, our emotions have been tested.  My wife and I will have to go through a particular time of testing once or twice a year.  It comes with getting older.  Each time we go through this time of testing, our emotions often elevate.  We are asked to trust the LORD anew and afresh.  Each time we are asked to trust Him a little bit more.  We often wait on pins and needles until we know the outcome of our testing and we pray for the best.  Sometimes it is not as we hoped and we have to adjust our expectations.  In the meantime, our hearts go through summersaults as we have to redefine what normal is.  Life changes.  Not always for the better.  At least in some areas.  Other areas to change for the better.  We can become fixated on those areas that seem to be degrading while ignoring those areas in which God has blessed us.  Our emotions can get the better of us and our hearts can become our worst enemies.  When my dear Lisa and I are asked to get through these times, our hearts are not always as steadfast as we wish they were.  We are challenged just like everyone else is.  Yet, we have the answer above.

What I wish to do is simply give a word of testimony.  I can honestly agree with David.  When I trusted, then I was helped.  This was not easy.  It is not easy for anyone.  God is who and what He is.  He has never changed.  He is greater than all our circumstances.  This does not mean they will turn out as we had hoped.  Certain things are inevitable.  Life cannot continue as it always has.  This does not mean God lacks mercy or does not care.  These things are the way of life.  What we can know is if we trust the LORD in all things, no matter how hard that might be, He can and will help.  The circumstances may not improve.  But that is not the objective.  The objective is to live with the circumstances of life which He has determined while learning to trust Him through them.  After all, eternity is our permanent set of circumstances.  The things of this life are temporary.  What I can do is share that I have learned, by experience, that David is exactly right here.  When I learned to trust the LORD and discipline the emotions of the heart, I was helped.  The Holy Spirit became more real to me than He ever has in the past.  I am helped!