Save Us
Psalm 60:4
Save us and help us with Your right hand, that those You love may be delivered.
A family member having emergency surgery and not getting the outcome that is prayed for…a friend faced with the reality of her mom needing to go to a nursing home…another friend starting chemo and radiation…a new friend living daily with grief and a drug addiction…a young man who lost his wife and unborn child in a tragic auto accident. All this in my life just in the past 2 days. Sometimes I look at life here on this earth and scream in my heart…we can’t do this much longer LORD!
And then there is this. Granddaughters who smile every time I enter the room…grandsons who WANT to come to Nonna’s house and play…sunshine…warm breezes…children who tell me they love me…food in my pantry…a hug from a new friend…a God who loves me…the ability to listen to others who are hurting and feel their pain…dreams for His glory…memories that warm my heart.
I remember a time not too long ago when I walked through my days with a smile and what I thought was real empathy for others. I was deceiving myself. Not until I experienced real pain and started opening myself up to the pain of others have I discovered something important. Once upon a time I thought I could do something to help somebody. That I actually had some wisdom or knowledge or answer that would be just what they needed. That if I was around and offered advise, it would somehow be what they needed to hear. God help me. How foolish. In reality…the truth of the matter is this…not me, not you, not anyone has ANYTHING that can help another. We can think that we know what others need…but NO ONE has anything that we have need of other than God Himself. If we don’t have HIM…we have nothing. If He doesn’t come and save us…we cannot be saved.
There will be times like the past two days were for me when we will be tempted to do things in the flesh. Give a standard, “I’m not really listening” answer to someone who is hurting…or not even give them our time at all. It’s happened to me time and time again…when I’m talking, NEEDING someone to listen, but knowing good and well by the look on their face…they’re not really caring, much less listening. How can we DO that? We will say a prayer that will go seemingly unanswered. We will see someone’s pain that is so deep we will be want to run the other way…and do. And in that same space of time we may experience normalcy in our day that causes us to not even give God a second thought.
But, let me assure you that during our days here…doing things our way is totally worthless. People who are hurting need more than just a nod of our head…no prayer really goes unanswered…running the other way will send us into a wall of selfishness and God needs our every thought…not just our first and second. Psalm 60 says something that should be on our lips and in our hearts every minute of every day. SAVE US AND HELP US. We cannot save ourselves. We cannot help ourselves…much less someone else. He is the only One who can. But, the wonderful news is just that…HE CAN and HE DOES. And the amazing, humbling thing is this…if we allow Him to, He uses us as His instruments to do it. When I allow Him to use me to help someone, those that He dearly loves…giving them the message of hope and deliverance…it not only changes them, but it changes me.
Suddenly the pain and sadness of others turns into a sort of healing for me. A knowing that I am being used…even though it hurts…to help others see the love of God. I must admit I’m weary after witnessing the pain of the past two days. It hurts to sit across the table from a young man who has lost his wife and unborn baby. It hurts to talk to a young mom who doesn’t realize just how much God loves her. And it is so painful to see someone you love more than anything in this world hurting. But, this I KNOW…
HE SAVES AND HE HELPS…HE DELIVERS…BECAUSE HE LOVES US
Even though it’s hard…Be His hands…Be His voice…and watch Him deliver.
He always does…
Sending much love,
Debbie
