Dear God, I could use some help here

A local rancher I know was out in the pasture one day with his son and twelve-year-old grandson. By nature they are each accomplished horsemen. At some distance, the grandson had just swung up into the saddle of a partially broken horse. As father and son stood with their elbows on the pickup, here comes horse and rider at a dead run. As his horse flies him by the truck and into parts unknown, the grandson hollers out, “I could use some help here!”

I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the LORD, who made heaven and earth. Psalm 121 has always been one of my favorites. From ancient times, to lift up one’s eyes to the hills was to lift up one’s eyes to God. And the psalmist looked to God because he was looking for Help.

When life becomes more frantic and difficult, or less sure, we say, or want to say to God, “I could use some help here!” When we are worn to a frazzle trying to figure out our kids (or parents), we pray in desperation, “I could use some help here!” When relationships falter and we’ve tried everything we can think of, we close our eyes, think of God, and whisper, “I could use some help here.”

When we have tried so hard to live a faith-full life, and the temptations become stronger and stronger, and our spiritual knees are tired of buckling and banging the ground, we lift up our eyes unto the hills and cry out, “Lord, I could use some help here!” To “lift our eyes to God” is to lift our expectations, hopes, and attitudes, and be quick to join in John Rippon’s hymn of God’s promise:

Fear not, I am with thee, oh, be not dismayed, for I am thy God, and will still give thee aid.

I’ll strengthen thee, help thee, and cause thee to stand, upheld by my righteous, omnipotent hand. “The soul that on Jesus still leans for repose, I will not, I will not desert to its foes; that soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake, I’ll never, no never, no never forsake!

Teresa Schantz, of Kirkwood Road Christian Church in St. Louis, told about coming out of the grocery store, with a man and his young son directly in front of her. The little boy was desperately hanging on to a big bag of ice, trying to appear as if the act was effortless. His father was doing the actual carrying, holding it with true ease by the handle. The little boy cried out, “Don’t let go, Dad. Now don’t let go!” The father replied, “I won’t, Son. Is the bag too heavy? Is the ice too cold?” “No, no, Daddy! I’ve got it…but don’t let go!”

O my friends—the cares, concerns and burdens we carry, we need not carry alone. God carries them, too, and will never let go. In the week to come, when you find yourself thinking, “I could use some help here!”— lift up thine eyes.