Help Is Standing By

HELP IS STANDING BY
We cannot see God. At times we don’t even feel His presence. But in the daily uncertainties of life, amid the dangers around us, in our most pressing hour, God is standing by to help. He will see us safely to the other shore.

God’s unseen presence comforts me, I knew He is always near; And when life’s storms besiege my soul, He says, “My child, don’t fear.” God is present, even when we feel he is absent (Our Daily Bread, December 14, 1990).

WITNESSING
The evangelistic harvest is always urgent. The destiny of men and of nations is always being decided. Every generation is strategic. We are not responsible for the past generation, and we cannot bear the full responsibility for the next one, but we do have our generation. God will hold us responsible as to how well we fulfill our responsibilities to this age and take advantage of our opportunities (Billy Graham).

OUR HANDS ARE CHRIST’S
Christ has no hands but our hands to do His work today; He has no feet but our feet to lead men in His way. He has no tongue but our tongues, to tell men how He died. He has no help but our help, to bring them to His side. We are the only Bible the careless world will read. We are the sinner’s gospel, we are the scoffers’ creed; written in deed and word—What if the line is crooked? What if the type is blurred (Author Unknown)?

THE MAN WHO LOST ALL BUT FOUND CHRIST
Charles Colson testified: “Sure, Watergate caused my world to crash around me and sent me to prison. I lost many of my mainstays of my existence—the awards, the six-figure income, and lifeclass to match, arguing cases in the highest courts, a portion of power at the right hand of the President of the United States. But only when I lost them did I find a far greater quest for power and success—that is true security and meaning—I discovered in prison where all worldly props had been stripped away” (Chuck Colson, He Found Christ).

PICKING & CHOOSING SCRIPTURES
However, hard some things are to understand, it is never helpful to start picking and choosing biblical truths we find congenial as if the Bible is an open-shelved supermarket where we are at perfect liberty to choose only the chocolate bars. For the Christian, it is God’s Word, and it is not negotiable. What answers we find may not be exhaustive, but they give us the God who is there, and who gives us some measure of comfort and assurance (D. A. Carson, How Long O Lord?).

SHARING IN CHRIST’S TRIUMPH
Had Paul once been a foe of Christ? He was now Christ’s friend. Once Christ’s enemy, he had now become Christ’s slave. It is no degradation but rather an honor, to be chained to the chariot of the crucified Savior, to partake of his Master’s shame and honor, to bear reproach, to suffer with Him, to be glorified together (Maxwell, Abandon to Christ).

OUR SELF-AFFIRMATION IN CHRIST
In his excellent little book: The Christian Looks at Himself, Dr. Anthony Hoekema quotes a young American black who, rebelling against the inferiority feelings inculcated in him by whites, put up this banner in his room: “ I’m me, I am good because God don’t make junk.” It may have been a bad grammar, but it was good theology.

PRAYER
FATHER, let our faithful mind Rest, on Thee alone inclined; Every anxious thought repress, Keep our souls in perfect peace (Charles Wesley).