Who Are You Going To Call When You Need Help?
Psalm 20:1-9
When trouble comes your way, to whom do you run to bail you out? When you have overwhelming needs, who do seek out to meet those needs? When you just can’t do it your self and you need someone to give you a helping hand to make it through, who do you reach out to for help? You may feel like there is no one you can run to but I’ve got good news there is One you can run to for refuge from the storm; One who will hear when you call for help; One who will hold your hand and see you through the darkest night.
I. There is help for those weighed down with trouble
A. Job 5:7 “Yet man is born to trouble, as the sparks fly upward.”
B. Job 14:1 “Man who is born of woman Is of few days and full of trouble.”
C. Trouble as used in the Bible means distress or adversity.
D. Sometimes life throws you a curve ball and you find yourself face to face with insurmountable problems or crises. One behemoth of nothing but trouble. At one time or another we all will face giants in our lives. Giants that come as unconquerable and insurmountable problems and concerns. Goliaths! Even if we did try to surmount these obstacles we’re quickly slam dunked only to face other giants.
E. Someone has said “Inside every large problem is a series of small problems struggling to get out.” Felling one giant often only unleashes a boatload of other adversity.
F. When these giants come the first place we often run to is our family, friends, the government – everywhere but where we should seek refuge. The help of man is at best limited.
G. Psalms 60:11 “Give us help from trouble, for the help of man is useless.”
H. From a human standpoint, there is no solution for the problems in the world today.
I. Isaiah 31:1 “Woe to them that go down to Egypt for help; and stay on horses, and trust in chariots, because they are many; and in horsemen, because they are very strong; but they look not unto the Holy One of Israel, neither seek the LORD!”
J. Psalm 46:1 “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.”
K. Often we wonder why God allows the storms to enter our life but as Erwin Lutzer has said. “God often puts us in situations that are too much for us so that we will learn that no situation is too much for him.”
L. Psalms 107:28 “Then they cry out to the LORD in their trouble, And He brings them out of their distresses.”
M. "In order to realize the worth of the anchor, we need to feel the stress of the storm." - copied
N. Psalms 9:9 “The LORD also will be a refuge for the oppressed, A refuge in times of trouble.”
O. 1 Corinthians 10:13 “There hath no temptation (testing) taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.
II. There is help for those who have great need
A. Hebrews 4:16 Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
B. Need refers to lacking the necessities of life, to be in want.
C. Luke 15:14-16 “And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want. And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him.”
D. Psalms 72:12 “For He will deliver the needy when he cries, the poor also, and him who has no helper.”
E. Few of us know the severe poverty that is a desperate problem throughout the world. Among the 4.4 billion people who live in developing countries, three-fifths have no access to basic sanitation; almost one-third are without safe drinking water; one-quarter lack adequate housing; one-fifth live beyond reach of modern health services; one-fifth of the children do not get as far as grade five in school and one-fifth are undernourished. – copied
F. While most of us may not be impoverished. Many of us still have needs. While we may not be financially destitute, many are going through extreme financial difficulties, some are faced with emotional or marital difficulties. Many children are in need of compassion and understanding. Some families are in want of stability and cohesiveness.
G. We can never use the language of the Laodicean church and say, `We have need of nothing.' Our needs are great but the Lord's resources are inexhaustible. The New Testament points out some types of man’s needs
Material — Matt. 6. 32; Phil. 4. 12, 16—`Your Father knoweth'.
Physical — Luke 9. 11—`All who had need of healing'.
Personal — Luke 10. 42—Quiet time alone with the Lord, at His feet.
Moral — John 13. 10—Daily cleansing: need to wash our feet.
Social — 1 Cor. 12. 21—Need of fellowship: fellow-members of Christ.
Spiritual— Heb. 10. 36—`Ye have need of patience'.
Mental— James 1. 5-1f any man lack wisdom let him ask of God' - Copied
H. Philippians 4:19 “But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.”
III. There is help for those without strength to go on
A. Proverbs 24:10 “If you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small.”
B. There are times in life when life can seem overwhelming. You may even feel like your life is a journey on a restless and troubled sea. You need help to make it through another day but feel like you’re all helpless and all alone. I have good news for you there is help for everything you’re going through. Even though you feel like you can’t take another step, you may still have to walk the valley but you don’t have to walk it alone on your own strength.
C. When Asa was king of Judah, an Ethiopian named Zerah attacked Judah with an army of 1,000,000 warriors and 300 charioteers. Outnumbered and without the military strength needed to defend themselves rather than frantically looking to others for deliverance, Asa leaned on the Lord.
D. 2 Chronicles 14:11 “And Asa cried unto the LORD his God, and said, LORD, it is nothing with thee to help, whether with many, or with them that have no power: help us, O LORD our God; for we rest on thee, and in thy name we go against this multitude. O LORD, thou art our God; let not man prevail against thee.”
E. Psalms 28:7 “The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in him, and I am helped: therefore my heart greatly rejoices; and with my song will I praise him.”
F. God delights in giving strength to those who are weak who will run to Him
G. Isaiah 40:29 “He gives power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increases strength.”
H. All of God’s Giants have been weak men. Hudson Taylor, founder of the China Inland Mission, knew the secret of strength through weakness. Complimented once by a friend on the impact of the mission, Hudson answered, “It seemed to me that God looked over the whole world to find a man who was weak enough to do His work, and when He at last found me, He said, ‘He is weak enough—he’ll do.’ All God’s giants have been weak men who did great things for God because they counted on His being with them.” (Our Daily Bread, May 13, 1996)
I. Isaiah 40:31 “But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.
J. Man’s greatest weakness is spiritual. We read in Romans 5:6 “For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.”
K. As sinners the Bible declare that we are "without strength" - This carries the idea of being "powerless". It speaks of people who are "utterly helpless with no means of escape." The idea is that the lost sinner stands before God with absolutely no ability to change what he is. We are powerless to escape sin, to escape death, to resist the devil, to please God in any way. The whole essence of this statement is that man is unable to change his sinful nature by his own effort. He is totally without strength and weakened by his sins. – copied
L. John 1:12 “But as many as received him, to them gave he POWER to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.”
