“God helps those who help themselves”
Have you ever heard the expression, “God helps those who help themselves”? What does this saying mean? Does it mean that God only helps those who can help themselves? At the very least this saying seems to suggest to me that we can help ourselves somewhat. It suggests that when we try and make the effort ourselves God will then step in and make up the difference.
Of course, some people would even go further and say that God’s help is unnecessary. If can help myself at all, can’t I help myself the whole way? We live in a world filled with self-help products and motivational speakers that tell us how we can change our lives and handle our crises with our own strength, an inner strength we need only tap into with the help—of course—of the many self-help books, videos, conferences, seminars, and gurus that are out there. One research firm predicts that the total market size of the “self-improvement” industry will grow to over $11 billion by 2008. I would never say that no good is done by such self-help products, but if God indeed helps those who help themselves, perhaps some of this money should be given to churches through tithes and offerings!
Psalm 124 is a song that reminds us that we need help. It is a song that reminds us that God is our help. It tells us that without the Lord as our help we are more than likely to be swallowed by our enemies.
Hazards along the road
So we read Psalm 124 and what do we see? “If it had not been the Lord who was on our side . . . when our enemies attacked us, then they would have swallowed us up alive.” Verses 1 – 5 describe what it would be like if God were not our helper. If the Lord was not our helper, then we’d be swallowed alive, the flood would have swept us away, the torrent would have gone over us, and over us would have gone raging waters. Without God, my enemies would overwhelm me. Notice that it doesn’t say if our enemies attack us, but when. Our Psalm assumes enemy attacks will come.
The Psalm gives three examples of enemy attacks. The first is being swallowed alive—based on how this word “swallow” is used elsewhere in Scripture this is the image of Leviathan, the great beast or sea monster. This monster or dragon represents evil, a creature from which there is no escape. Such a creature represents all that can threaten and hurt us, and we all have things which can do that.
The second is a flood. In the Middle East watercourses which have eroded the countryside are all interconnected by an intricate gravitational system. When a sudden storm fills these little gullies with water, they feed into one another, and in a very short time you have a torrential flash flood. During the rainy season people who live here are in danger because of such unannounced catastrophes. They come on too quick to escape. One minute the world is wonderful and things are fine; the next minute the entire world is devastated by a flash flood. It can happen to any of us.
The last image is that of a bird trapped in a snare. Those who snare birds know what they’re doing; if a bird gets caught in a snare, it’s not getting out. And no doubt each one of us has been in a situation where we had no idea how we were going to escape.
Each of these examples paints a vivid picture of getting trapped and not being able to get out and of catastrophes that arrive without warning. And each example is one of being in desperate need of help precisely because you can’t help yourself. Just because we are the people of God doesn’t mean we don’t have ordeals. We never know what’s coming. As we all walk along the road of faith we can each expect to encounter any number of unexpected hazards along the way. When Eugene Peterson was still an active pastor and went to give blood to the Red Cross, he was asked if he did hazardous work. He replied, “Yes.” The nurse, seeing his clerical collar, smiled and replied, “I don’t mean that kind of hazardous.”
“Let Israel now say”
But despite the hazards of the walk of faith the Psalm mentions, they are not the focus of our passage—this is not what he wants us to dwell on. Sure, he acknowledges that there are dangers in following God; but he doesn’t stay there. He doesn’t get bogged down in his troubles. The focus of this Psalm is not the hazards but the helper. He tells us that he wasn’t overwhelmed by the floodwaters and was able to escape the snare because of the Lord’s help—“If it had not been the Lord who was on our side.” He acknowledges the hazards and he acknowledges that apart from God they would have done him in.
On the way back from Fredericton this past Tuesday night Alisha and I passed an accident. A minivan had hit a moose. By the time we got there, things were being cleaned up. We found out later that Alisha knew the people in the accident and that they only ended up with minor cuts and bruises. What happens when you narrowly escape an accident or even escape from an accident without serious injury? Do you think that you’re lucky or do you realize that you’re blessed? I think everyone of us has had some kind of experience when but for the help of the Lord we would have been in real trouble. Maybe we wouldn’t even be here today. “If it had not been the Lord who was on our side . . .”
Some people find it hard to believe that God can be their helper. I find it interesting that Psalm 124 never tries to convince us that God can be our helper. Rather than defend God, the Psalm offers a testimony. The psalm is saying, “This is what God has done for me.” One pastor says that “a testimony is simply telling about the mess we were in, and how God lifted us out of that mess.” This Psalm is such a testimony. This reminds me of what it says in Psalm 40: 1, 2: “I waited patiently for the Lord, he inclined to me and heard my cry. He drew me up from the desolate pit, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure.” Again, here is a testimony. Eugene Peterson also says that “the proper work for a Christian is witness, not apology.” We are not here to defend God, to prove that He is who we say He is; we are here to be witnesses to who He is and what He has done. God will do the rest.
And it is also significant, I believe, to hear the Psalm say, “Let Israel now say.” This is not the isolated witness of one person. This is the testimony of a community. This is not a private experience, but a corporate reality. This is the voice of many giving witness to the power of a God who is our helper in the midst of enemies that threaten to swallow us whole, floods that threaten to sweep us away, and raging waters that threaten to drown us—once one person gives a testimony, another joins in. That’s why it is so important that right here it is so important that we give witness to how God has been at work in our lives—how He has been our helper. In other words, yes, God is our helper in our individual lives, but He also helps His church. As His people we are called to recognize the ways in which God has been our helper—“Let Israel now say.” And let Nerepis Baptist Church now say.
Getting the help we need
Of course, the first thing we have to do is admit we need help. This isn’t always easy. When someone joins AA, it’s because they have finally reached that point when they can admit to themselves that they have a drinking problem. They go to the meeting and say to those gathered, “Hi, I’m Larry and I have a drinking problem.” Larry will always have a drinking problem, even when it is under control. His need for support and help to control his problem will always be there. And our need for God’s help never ends. Both as believers but even as a church we need to admit our need for God’s help constantly. Individually, we should always be willing to say, “I’m so and so, and I need God’s help to be a Christian, a follower of Jesus, to be a better spouse, father, and, yes, pastor.” As a church, we should always be willing to say, “Hi, Lord, this is Nerepis Baptist Church, and we need your help to be Your people, and to be the body of Your Son Jesus, and to be a real witness in this community.”
The second thing we need to realize is that our help is never an answer, a solution, an explanation, or a product, but a Person, namely God. The help we get is not only what God gives to us. The help we get is an actual relationship. Having God as our helper is not simply about going to Him when things get bad and the flood waters come, but about being in relationship with God.
The third thing we need to realize is that the help God gives comes free of charge. With all the people out there purchasing self-help products, sustaining a huge industry that preys on people’s emotional, physical, and spiritual needs, it’s an incredible thing to say that the help we get from God has already been bought and paid for. We don’t have to write a check or give anyone our credit card number. No check we could write would ever be big enough and no credit limit on your VISA could ever be large enough to pay for the help that can come from God. It was bought for us already when Jesus went to the cross. Indeed, this is the ultimate way in which God has helped us. You can think of that miry bog described in Psalm 40 as sin and that God, through Christ, He “set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure.” A great image, especially since Christ is the rock on which we stand.
Lastly notice how all of this truth is placed in a song. Israel sang these words we looked at today. They sang, yes, of their enemies’ attacks, but ultimately the song they sang was about their helper. The last word here is not “when our enemies attacked us” but “blessed be the Lord” and “our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth.” We, too, are called to sing. After telling us of being lifted up out of the pit, the author of Psalm 40 tells us that “He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God.” What has the Lord brought you through that has put a new song in your mouth—whatever it is, then let us sing together, because the Lord is our helper, and “if God is for us, who can be against us?”
