Ask for Help
The Lord is my strength and my shield. Psalm 28:7
I do not like to ask for help let alone, let anyone know I might really need it. I guess I would call myself a very private person. Is needing help a sign of weakness? Not having your act together? Not carefully planning? Maybe in some circumstances the answer might be yes. However, the fact remains that there are times when we all need help when things are totally out of our control.
This might be hard to conceptualize, but by never making your requests known, you might be standing in the way of another’s spiritual gift(s) development. Or are you too full of yourself to be humble?
Here is a great (humbling) devotion from Max Lucado, excerpted from Anxious for Nothing.
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In his fine book The Dance of Hope, Bill Frey remembers the day he tried to pull a stump out of the Georgia dirt. He was eleven.
I crowbarred for hours, but the root system was so deep I couldn’t pull it out…I was still struggling when my father came over.
“I think I see your problem,” he said.
“What’s that?” I asked.
“You’re not using all your strength,” he replied.
I exploded and told him how hard I had worked.
“No,” he said, “You’re not using all your strength.”
When I cooled down, I asked him what he meant, and he said, “You haven’t asked me to help you yet.”
Some of your worries have deep root systems. Extracting them is hard, hard work. But you don’t have to do it alone. Present the challenge to your Father and ask for help.
Almighty God, thank You for songs that bring Your messages deep into our hearts. Help us to get humble and ask for help when we need it. Help us to lean into You for direction in this life. AMEN.