Our Very Present Help

"Lord—help me!"

I wonder what it really must have felt like to young Daniel—alone in the darkness, in the midst of the Lion's den?

We've all read the story, or heard it as a child in Sunday school.  Daniel had great faith and God delivered him from the jaws of the hungry lions.  Ultimately, he trusted in God.

It's a powerful story of a man's faith and of God's great faithfulness.

But unless we someday get an opportunity to speak with Daniel personally, we can only guess how he must have really felt—in the middle of the night, with those ferocious lions growling and wandering about, anxious for an easy meal.  Daniel certainly must have had moments of crippling fear and despair.  Times where he, in his human weakness, must have wondered if all was lost.

I know how I would have felt in that lion's den.

Today I am at my wits' end. 

There are some specific things that I have been praying about and asking God to do in my life for many months.  But the open doors I have prayed for have simply not materialized.  This morning I lamented to Him in my frustration:  "Lord, I don't know what else You want me to do!"

Perhaps, like me, you can relate to this group of desperate men of whom David wrote in Psalm 107:

"Some went out on the sea in ships;
they were merchants on the mighty waters.
They saw the works of the LORD,
His wonderful deeds in the deep.
For He spoke and stirred up a tempest
that lifted high the waves.
They mounted up to the heavens and went down to the depths;
in their peril their courage melted away.
They reeled and staggered like drunkards;
they were at their wits' end."

Several people that I know feel like they are at the end of their rope right now.  They don't have much, if any, hope in their present situations. And like these desperate sailors that David wrote about, they too are at their wits' end.

So what are we supposed to do?

I was contemplating the words to a song this morning: "Strength will rise as we wait upon the Lord..."

The scripture that inspired that song is Isaiah 40:31,

"But those who wait on the LORD Shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint."

Eagles have extremely large wings, and they have learned to use those wings to catch the thermals and updrafts, and allow the current of the wind to lift them up as high as they want to go.  Great anaolgy in Isaiah.

But practically speaking, in my day to day life, in my current time of distress, what does that look like?  How do I do that?—"Wait upon the Lord?"

I believe the answer is given in Psalm 107—in the response of those desperate sailors who were at their wits' end:

"Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble, 

   and He brought them out of their distress. 

He stilled the storm to a whisper; 

   the waves of the sea were hushed. 

They were glad when it grew calm, 

   and He guided them to their desired haven. 

Let them give thanks to the LORD for His unfailing love 

   and His wonderful deeds for mankind. 

Let them exalt Him in the assembly of the people 

   and praise Him in the council of the elders."

So many times in my life as a follower of Christ, I have felt like these desperate sailors, who were at their wit's end.  In my times of trouble my courage also tends to melt away.  I so easily forget how God has brought me out of my distress when I have cried out to Him in my peril.  

I think my courage melts away because He never seems to deliver me in the exact way that way I expect, or in the time frame I expect. I always want out of the jam I got myself into right away.  But God most often seems to take me to the very edge of what I think I can possibly endure.  Then He delivers me.

He wants me to trust in Him completely.

God has been teaching me this past nine months of being unemployed to ask Him in prayer for my needs, no matter what they are, and then trust Him with the results.

But I confess today, that, for me, sometimes this is easier said than done.  I'm weak.  My spirit is willing—but my flesh is oh, so weak.

I need to constantly remind myself of all the troubles and distresses that God has so miraculously delivered me from, throughout these eighteen years that I have sought to follow Him.

"God, I am so thankful!  Lord, You truly have given me a hope and a future.  I know You have good thoughts towards me and good plans for me. Father, thank You for the trials that You have allowed in my life--to bring me closer to You. Thank You for teaching me to trust in You.  Lord Jesus, You have been absolutely faithful to me these many years and have translated me out of my darkness and into Your marvelous light!  I Praise You Lord!"

Drawing near to God—crying out to Him in our times of trouble is the only thing we can do.  It's what God wants us to do.  Only He can fill the empty spaces and the void in our hearts.  Only He can satisfy the longings and the loneliness that we feel when we are rejected or let down.  Only He can heal our broken hearts when we are betrayed or despised. 

As Peter said to Jesus when He asked His disciples if they too would abandon Him:

"Lord, where else would we go?  You have the words of eternal life."

Jesus is eternal life. 

As I heard a brother so eloquently share this weekend:   "Stay, abide—rest in God's love."

Lord—where else would I go?

     You are eternal life.

So today, stretch out your hands to the One who can deliver you out of all your distresses.  And as you place all your trust in Him and rest in His love, you will catch those thermals and updrafts of the wind of His Spirit, and you will rise—on wings of eagles.

Thank You Father, for Your unfailing love.

—God is Love and Love Never Fails.