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Have you ever been stranded on the side of the road, out of gas, or broken down, waiting and hoping that someone would stop? I have. And every time, before too long, someone came along to help. I’ve come to believe that God sends that kind of help. He knows something about us that we don’t always like to admit: we were never meant to go through this life alone.
Right at the beginning of the Bible, God looked at the first man and said, “It is not good that the man should be alone” (Genesis 2:18). That one sentence tells us a great deal about how we’re made. We need each other. We need help. And whether we’ll say it out loud or not, most of us are carrying something right now that feels a little too heavy to carry by ourselves.
The good news is that help is exactly what God loves to give. The Psalms are full of short, honest prayers, “Help, Lord” (Psalm 12:1), “Make haste to help me, O Lord” (Psalm 40:13). One of my own favorite prayers is simply, “Help, Lord.” There’s no fancy language in it and no religious performance. It’s just a person turning toward God and admitting they can’t do it on their own. And the Bible promises that God is “a very present help in trouble” (Psalm 46:1). Not a far-off help, a present one, near and ready.
Here’s something I’ve learned, though: God usually sends His help through people. When Jesus said, “Give, and it shall be given unto you,” He went on to say that men would give into your bosom (Luke 6:38). God sets the blessing in motion, but He often uses ordinary folks like you and me to carry it to one another. That’s a big part of what the church is for. It isn’t a building full of people who have it all together. It’s a family of people learning to help and be helped. Someone at the door to shake your hand, someone who came early to lead a song, someone who will pray for you by name when your own strength runs low.
A lot of people stay away from church because they feel they don’t have enough to offer. “I’m not talented enough. I’m not good enough. I don’t know enough.” But God has never been after your ability. He’s the One who gives ability in the first place. What He’s looking for is your availability. Years ago a preacher named T.L. Osborn put it about as plainly as it can be put: if you want to do something for God, find a need and meet it. Look around you and see what you can do to be a help to someone else.
That’s really the whole Christian life, and you don’t need a title or an office to live it. Once, before a mission trip far from home, I felt the Lord gently say to me, “Son, you’re going all the way overseas to help people, but you haven’t even gone up and down your own street yet.” Help doesn’t have to be a great and distant thing. It’s the neighbor’s trash you pick up, the bushes you trim away from a stop sign so someone can see it, the phone call you make to a person who is alone. Don’t wait for somebody else to do it. If you see a need, meet it.
And here is the promise that goes with it: “Let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not” (Galatians 6:9). When you help someone, you are not really depending on them to pay you back. You are doing it as unto the Lord, and He is the One who rewards. I can tell you from a lifetime of it, you cannot out-give God.
So let me leave you with an invitation. If you have been away from church, or you have never really felt at home in one, come. Come just as you are, with whatever you are carrying. You will find people who need help too, and people who are ready to give it. More than that, you will find the God who has promised to hold your right hand and say, “Fear not; I will help thee” (Isaiah 41:13).
Let’s have a vision, not only to receive help, but to be a help to others. Find a church this Sunday. Come for help and come to help. We need God's help and we need the help of others and someone needs your help.
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Gary Bailey began preaching in 1977. Since 2020, he and his wife Gwen have been pastors at Light Ministries Church in Lewistown. Their emphasis is worship, the preaching of the Word of God, prayer and spiritual gifts, family and fellowship. You are welcome to visit in person at 181 Caldwell Hill Rd., Lewistown, Sundays at 10 a.m. Visit Facebook at Light Ministries Church for livestream service. Contact Pastor Gary at gbmin@mac.com.