Archived Verse Of the Week

Where Does My Help Come From? 

 

Everybody occasionally needs help. Where do you go if you need help? Do you contact a relative? A friends or dial 911?

 

A support system is helpful, but we must look beyond that. You can observe all safety regulations, take all precautions, exercise, and eat well. However, things can still go wrong since history and experience have taught us that no safety plan, insurance policy, or security system can keep us completely safe in this life. And for that reason, we must turn to God for guidance. Although Benjamin Franklin once noted that "God helps those who help themselves," the Bible teaches us that God helps those who seek His help. Until we find safety in God, none of us are secure.

 

The psalmist sings, "I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help" (Psalm 121:1). He doesn't skip a beat and answers himself, "My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth" (Psalm 121:2).

 

So Where Do You Look?

 

When we're in difficulties, we tend to glance down. Right? Our expressions are solemn. Our attention is drawn to all our troubles down here, which tend to drag us down even more. However, the hills are also upward in direction. The hills serve as a reminder to gaze up. But don't stop there. Are you looking far enough up? Because God is higher than all, you must look beyond the hills to the God who made them.

 

Consider the Creator rather than the creation. Nature does not provide the solution; instead, it directs to the solution. Look past the mountains to the God who made them. Our help comes exclusively from the hill of the Lord, who created all the hills (Psalm 121:2). All other hills we encounter in life can neither rescue nor destroy us.

 

When the hills in your life appear to be the solution to your pain or the source of your affliction, the psalmist instructs us to seek aid elsewhere. With spiritual eyes, we gaze at the heavenly hill of Zion, the dwelling place of the Lord, "My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth." (Psalm 121:2).

 

Your source of help is both personal and immensely knowledgeable. Don't be concerned about the hills or try to hide in their fleeting shadows – the Lord created heavens and earth. "The mountains melt like wax before the Lord, before the Lord of all the earth." (Psalm 97:5). Consider the Lord, who is eternal and all-powerful and loves you.

 

He could easily push the hill out of the way. He might open your eyes to see that the hill is full of horses and chariots of fire sent on your behalf. What counts is where your help comes from: Your Help comes from the Lord.

 

Our Ground of Hope Is Calvary's Hill

 

Jesus gives us peace that surpasses understanding while removing the false confidence we place in our earthly circumstances. "This is my comfort in my affliction, For Your word has given me life." (Psalm 119:50). He is gracious in teaching us that our help comes solely from him.

 

Our despair over life on this fallen planet would have been the end of all our narratives if it hadn't been for a cross that stood on a particular hill two thousand years ago. Jesus climbed that hill and faced the greatest challenge humanity has ever encountered: God's holy wrath for our sin. Christ bore our sins, "the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God" (1 Peter 3:18). "Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God!" (1 John 3:1).

 

We may be "persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed"— (2 Corinthians 4:9) in this life. But every affliction that tries to squeeze your joy out of you in the shadow of the cross is meant to increase your faith. You don't have to put false hope in crumbling hills or be scared of what is underneath them. Jesus provides us a more satisfying life than one centred on those hills.

 

Look away from those hills and toward Calvary, where Christ was crucified for your sins. He alone can assist you.