“Help, Lord; for the godly man ceaseth; for the faithful fail from among the children of men.”-Psalms 12:1
Help, Lord. When employed by faith in prayer, these two words can call to arms the battalions of heaven. As Hannah begging for a child, as David pleading for victory, as Elijah calling down the fire, and Nehemiah asking for restitution. They, and millions more have left an example of what God’s help can do. Jesus himself gave us exhortation to ask, seek and knock. He gave us promises from God, that we can come as little children and say: “Help, Lord.”
Help, Lord. It is difficult to find two words more needful in the walk of faith than these. A simple prayer, simple statement, simple request; Help, Lord. Lord, we need your help. We are a needy people. We need your Spirit, we need your presence, we need your power, and your sustaining influence. When the enemies that come against us are mightier. When they are more cunning, fierce, and practiced in the art of destruction. The struggles that overtake us are stronger than we. Weighty and difficult. The fear that grips us, overwhelming; what do we have to combat it? What defense can we mount against the onslaught of the enemy and the craftiness of the devil? When godly men stumble and when faithful men fail us; we ask help. When the wicked one moves in, to terrorize our ranks, we ask help. When it seems we are few, neglected, and broken; we ask help. Our response is simply: Help, Lord. We look to the giver of life and ask help. We look to the resurrected Christ and ask help. The lover of souls and redeemer of man. We “come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need (Heb 4:16).” Not for our glory but for His. Lord, we depend on thy help, we cling to thy help. There is nothing beside you Lord, and no-one but you. The Psalmist David came to thee and wrote these words in a time when he needed help. One son was dead, and another was conspiring against him. The threat to lose the throne, and his life was very real. It was not from an outsider, but his own blood. In this time of need he cried out: Help, Lord. Here we are today, leaning on the same words and coveting the same promises; asking help of the one who is the great I AM.
We must go to God because we are asking for things that are outside of our power to perform. In prayer we gain power from on high. We need a power that is greater and mightier than ourselves. There is no one beside the Lord who can bring us the help that is needed. “Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God; (2 Corinthians 3:5).” We can heal a broken limb, but not a broken heart. We can save a man from drowning, but we cannot save one soul from hell. There are spiritual forces at work to destroy us, and we must have a spiritual defense to go along with spiritual offense. For that we say: help, Lord. God, please, we need your help.
