‘O Lord, please help
me in this situation.’
That sounds like a really good prayer. David thought so.
That sounds like a really good prayer. David thought so.
In my distress I called upon the Lord; to my God I cried for help. Psalms 18.6
How good to know
that we can call upon our God for His help.
However…
There is the
possibility of a problem. And this is because of the subtle deceitfulness of
our hearts. There is a way of calling out to God for help that we are to pursue
as a part of everyday life. But there is a way of asking for His help that is
deceptive and evil. This is when we ask for God's help thinking that all we
need is just a little boost. We're confident that we have things mostly under
control, but there is that one little tidbit that isn’t working the way that we
want. And it’s for that little bit that we ask God’s help.
When we do that,
when that is what's going on in our hearts, we are sinning. We are believing
the lie that we are able to handle life, at least most of it. We are convinced
that we really can do this. It’s just that we need a little assist – and that’s
what God is for, isn’t He?
We don’t need a
little assist. We need the grace of God without which life just won't work.
I've adjusted my
prayers because of this. While it actually is okay for a Christian to ask God
to 'help' him, more and more I'm leaving that word out. So, I don't ask Him to
help me trust Him, for example. No, now it's, 'Make me trust You in this
situation.' And I'm working at asking for that with the understanding that if
He doesn't act, life won't work for me. I am in desperate need of His grace.