H.E.L.P.
Andy Beech
Text: If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
2 Chronicles 7:14
Introduction
Help
‘When I was younger, so much younger than today, I never needed anybody’s help in anyway. But now these days are gone, I’m not so self assured, I know that I, need you like I’ve never done before.’
Now I’m sure some of you will have recognised those lyrics and quickly determined just what song they come from, despite my attempts to disguise them a little bit, so any ideas? - yes they come from the Beatles track - ’Help’.
The song is written in a manner that infers that the lyric writer seems to have grown-up a bit and found that his life is missing someone.
And many of us have been in the same position at one time or another. How many of us have gone our own way before maturing and realising that there is more to life than being self centred, self indulgent and self first, last and everything. We come to a point where we recognise that we need ’help’.
In the passage from 2 Chronicles we see that God is speaking to Solomon, and He is listing the actions that He expects the people of Israel to follow if they are to be given His ’help’.
In 2 Chronicles 7:14 we read:
If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
When we look at this list of required actions, we see that there are four requirements and these are just as relevant for us today, and so I intend to go through these, but not in the order in which they are written.
When I was at school I often found that by using a mnemonic (ni-mon-ik), I could remember detail for some of the exams I entered. So by re-arranging the order a little, to form a word, we might remember just what it is that God will do if we are to follow His ways.
H. Humble
So the first letter of our word is ’H’ for Humble.
When I left school I became a Police Cadet and after my initial training at Hendon and Ashford, Kent, I was posted to Woking Surrey.
The person in charge at Woking was Chief Superintendent, who was one of the old school of Police Officers.
On one particular day I was out on patrol with a Police Constable in a Panda Car in the Byfleet area, when I personally received a radio message to come back to Woking Police Station.
I thought that it had to be something very serious for both of us to be called back to the station, and all the way in I was going over things in my mind, trying to work out what I must have done wrong to warrant this recall.
When we arrived at Woking the duty Sergeant told me to go up to see the Chief Super pretty smartish. Gingerly I tapped on the Chief Super’s door and a gruff voice bellowed ’Come in’. I reckoned I was in trouble!!
I entered and identified who I was – “Cadet 66 Beech reporting, Sir.”
The Chief was never one to beat about the bush, and he came straight to the point, using a number of expletives along the way. Basically he wanted me to clean his golf boots!
I stood there in total disbelief. After all that effort for the Pc. and myself to come in from Byfleet, leaving the area unpatrolled; all my worry over what I might have done wrong, and all he wanted me for, was to clean his mucky golf boots!!
I suppose my face must have told just how I felt about it, so the Chief asked me:
"Well do you want to do it or not?"
And being the honest sort of chap that I am, I said:
"Quite frankly sir, I’d rather not".
To which he replied in a very stern manner, (and I’ve omitted the swear words):
"When I was a Inspector at Walton-on-Thames and there was no cleaner to attend to the station, do you know who it was who did the cleaning of the stairs?"
"You sir?"
"Yes me. So don’t you ever think yourself so high and mighty that you can’t do the grotty jobs. You’ve got to be humble boy, and just you remember that. I want you to come back at 4.30 and clean my boots."
As it happened, I never did clean his golf boots, however he did get me to clean his car on a number of occasions.
I suppose that it was this experience that taught me a very salutary lesson in life, that when mundane tasks have to be performed, including here within the Church, I should never consider myself exempt from these activities.
Although I know this to be a truth, I’m also aware that I am far from perfect when it comes to humility. Unfortunately for many of us, it takes a long time to come terms with the reality of this truth.
A.W. Tozer reckoned that:
Humility is as scarce as an Albino Robin.
And when you think about it, how many Albino Robins have you ever seen? So perhaps there is room for improvement in all of us.
Even our Lord Jesus told the crowds, and his disciples, the importance of being humble. He said on one occasion:
"The greatest among you will be your servant. For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.
Matt 23:11-12
On another occasion Jesus called a little child over to Him and told His disciples:
"...whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
Matt 18:4
In earthly terms we determine success by those who aspire to greatness. We have only to look to Sport to see examples of that. For instance despite the efforts of all who attend the Olympics, it is, in the main, those who come away with the medals that society remembers and pours accolade on, not the also-rans, unless your Eddie the Eagle!
However, in heavenly terms, God does not want his disciples to take all the Glory. Even Jesus directed adoration to God His Father.
So in a sense, it is an inverted rule of life to that which we are used to.
F.B. Meyer wrote in Alliance Weekly:
"I used to think that God’s gifts were on shelves one above the other, and that the taller we grew in Christian character the easier we could reach them. I now find that God’s gifts are on shelves one beneath the other. It is not a question of growing taller, but of stooping down, to get His best gifts."
So if we are to receive God’s ’help’, the first requirement is a humble heart.
E. Earnestly Seek God
The second letter in our word is E for ’Earnestly seek God’.
If we were able to draw a graph of church attendance in this country over the past 200 years, I feel sure that the graph would show peaks of interest during times of War and conflict.
Similarly, if we look in the Bible at the history of the Jewish Nation we would find an amazing correlation between the times of persecution, disaster and conflict, and a renewal of worship and righteousness.
There was the Exodus from Egypt; the battle of Jericho; Joseph came to prominence as far as the Jews were concerned, in a time of Famine. David met the challenge of Goliath when the Philistines faced the Israelites in battle. Elijah faced the 400 prophets of Baal when all of the Jewish prophets were being eliminated.
The prophets Isaiah, Ezekiel and Jeremiah wrote their books around the time of the Exile in Babylonia. And so the correlation goes on.
Encouraging people to seek God during times of peace and prosperity is a far more difficult task because there is no harder enemy than Apathy.
When God spoke to Solomon, Israel was going through such a time. Under the rule of David and Solomon, Israel had secured a time of stability and growth. Having this wonderful Temple in which to Worship God, could well have led the people to become proud and arrogant. So here was God telling them that what he wanted was a people who sought His counsel. A people that looked to him to provide for they’re needs.
God longed to look after them but He expected them to ask Him for help. He desired recognition and appreciation.
As a father whose children live 160 miles away, I know just what it is like to love at a distance, and how hurtful it can be to feel forgotten. Despite this, I know that all I can do is keep on loving them and letting them know that I care, and hope that one day they will earnestly seek my love.
Our heavenly Father must feel the same way about each one of us. He longs for us to seek him out, to spend qualitative time with Him, to have a time of intimacy, in which we can be truly open with Him, and He with us.
We need to ’earnestly seek God’ if we are to be helped.
L. Leave your ways
The third letter in our word is L for ’Leave your ways’.
Some Christians have, through their intimacy with the Lord, a better understanding of His will for us in certain areas of life, than perhaps you and I may have. Some call this a gift of Knowledge, which is one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
One such person who God blessed with this gift from was the late John Wimber, the American Evangelist. At times, God gave him the ability to see heavenly messages in a variety of ways, and sometimes these messages would come when they were not the most convenient for John Wimber.
On one occasion John Wimber was in an aeroplane at the end of a long day of ministry.
John Wimber says he was exhausted and was looking forward to relaxing on the plane journey home.
Shortly after take-off he glanced around and saw something that startled him. Across the aisle was a middle-aged businessman. What Wimber could see written across his face was the word ’adultery’. By now the man had become aware that John was looking at him.
’What do you want?’ he snapped.
As the man spoke, a woman’s name came clearly to John’s mind. John asked, ’Does the name Jane mean anything to you?’
The poor fellow’s face turned ashen. ’We’ve got to talk,’ he stammered.
They went off to the upstairs lounge of the plane. As John followed him up the stairs he sensed the Spirit speaking to him again. ’Tell him if he doesn’t turn from his adultery, I’m going to take him’.
They sat down in strained silence. The man looked at John suspiciously for a moment. Then he asked,
’Who told you that name?’
’God told me,’ John blurted out.
’God told you?’ he almost shouted back.
’Yes. He also told me to tell you... that unless you turn from this adulterous relationship, he is going to take your life.’
John braced himself for the angry defence. But instead the man’s heart melted and in a choked desperate voice he asked John, ’What should I do?’
John explained what it meant to repent or turn away from what is wrong in our lives and to trust Christ. Then John began to lead the man in a quiet prayer. But the man burst into tears and cried out ’O God, I’m so sorry...’
And the man launched into the most heart-rending repentance John had ever heard.
When things had calmed down the man explained why he was so upset. His wife was sitting next to him when John had said the name Jane.
John said, ’You’re going to have to tell her... Better do it right now.’
So off they went downstairs. John couldn’t hear the conversation over the noise of the plane. But he could see the stunned look on the wife’s face. Her eyes were wide. She stared first at her husband and then at John and then back again. In the end the man led his wife to Christ, there and then.
The plane landed and there was little time to talk. They didn’t have a Bible so John gave them his, and they went their separate ways.
In this story, it was a middle-aged businessman who was full of guilt for his adulterous sinful actions, but God knows all our indiscretions.
This could be a time when we’ve backstabbed someone, or maybe we’ve taken goods that don’t belong to us. Perhaps we have wronged a loved one or friend, and haven’t attempted to reconcile our differences. Maybe we have become bitter because someone has seemingly got the better of us at sometime or other. Whatever it is, if we hold onto this guilt, or continue to commit sinful actions these separate us from God, and from the love he longs to share with us. God wants us to repent. To ’leave our sinful ways’ behind us.
Through Jesus Christ, God has provided the ’HELP’ we need to do a U-turn and leave our sinful ways.
P. Pray
The fourth and final letter of our word is P for Pray.
God’s word to Solomon at night came at a time when the Temple and the Royal Palace had been built and all opening ceremonies and the festivities were over.
God’s message was one of reminder. A reminder that God would help the Israelites, but only when He saw humble hearts, an attitude of reverence and repentance, as well as a return to ways of prayer.
These four requirements are all that God asks of us.
So how much time do we really spend in prayer? Is one hour a week the only time we allot to prayer? If I’m honest that was all I used to give for something like 30 years of my life.
Do we know how to pray? I’m sure your prayers have gone beyond:
Thank you for the food we eat,
Thank you for the world so sweet,
Thank you for the birds that sing,
Thank you Lord for everything.
Do we know what to pray for?
Chalmers Illustration
The other day I was reading a story from Graham Twelftree’s book ‘Get the Point Across’ about two African chiefs who came to the missionary Chalmers and asked for Christian teachers for their villages, but he apologised saying he didn’t have anyone to send.
Two years went by and the chiefs returned to pester him, so this time he decided to go himself. When he arrived in one of the villages, he was surprised by what he saw. It was Sunday and all the people were on their knees, in perfect silence.
Chalmers asked the chief, "What are you doing?"
"We are praying," he said.
"But you are not saying anything," Chalmers returned.
The chief then said, "White man, we do not know what to say. For two years, every Sunday morning we have met here. And for four hours we have been on our knees and we have been praying like that, but we do not know what to say."
Can you imagine coming here this evening at 6.00pm and staying in complete prayerful silence until 10.00pm. That takes a lot of doing.
Prayer meeting
On Tuesday evenings at 7pm we hold a prayer meeting at Charles St. Methodist Church, and there have been some occasions where nothing has been spoken during the session other than an opening and closing prayer.
It is not easy to focus on the Lord for great lengths of time without your mind wandering off from what you are praying about, or even falling asleep, however whenever this is achieved it usually results in powerful prayer sessions.
I reckon the missionary Chalmers would have wanted to learn from the village people how to pray, rather than teaching them to pray using words.
On the subject of finding time for God in prayer, John White in his book ’The Fight’ advises that we should:
’...arrange for twenty minutes of unhurried, quiet waiting on God every day. Choose a place where you are unlikely to be distracted and go there regularly.’
Twenty minutes may be peanuts to some of you, whereas for others that may seem a light year away.
One of the things which I have learnt is that we all need to build-up our devotional time. After all, I’m sure that when we go to heaven we will spend considerable time in prayer, so we might as well get ourselves well practised!
Challenge
If there are areas of your life that cause a division between you and God, bring them before Him in the time of prayer later in this service. Don’t hold onto them as if they were a prize possession. God’s heart is breaking for you.
Give Jesus that guilt.
Give Jesus that bitterness.
Tell Jesus just how hard it is to forgive and forget the person who has wronged you.
And let him release you of your sin.
In the words of the Beatles song HELP:
I know that I, need you like, I’ve never done before. Help me if you can I’m feeling down.
Do you know that you need Jesus?
It is Jesus that brings the ’help’ we need to lead a life we have never done before. But to receive this help we need to have a:
Humble heart;
Earnestly seek God;
Leave our sinful ways behind us; and
Pray.
Don’t dismiss God’s help in Jesus, otherwise ultimately we will remain feeling down, - down here on earth rather than in heaven where God intended us to be.
Amen.
