THE LORD IS MY HELPER

THE LORD IS MY HELPER “So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.” (Hebrews 13:6-7 KJV) This is not rocket science! Please don’t miss the obvious! Everyone understands the difference between a worker and a helper. The role of the worker is to do the work, and the role of the helper is to assist in the work. The point is, God does not do our work for us. He is our “Helper”. God gives us a job and expects us to be faithful in completing the work. His role as a Helper, however, is essential. We cannot be “saved” without our Helper! This, however, does not reverse our roles. We are still to do the work and God is still to be our Helper. Remember! God is the original worker and has created us in His image. That’s why when God put Adam in the garden He expected him to work (Gen. 2:15). While God helped Adam, He didn’t do his work for him. The work of God did not end with creation. He still works! Jesus said: “My Father worketh hitherto and I work” (Jn. 5:17). Yes! God works! Jesus works! What about you? When God said: “Six days you shall labor” (Ex. 20:9) it was not a “suggestion”. This wonderful truth about man’s role in God’s plan is consistent throughout the whole Bible. It is an honor to work along side of God (1 Cor. 3:9). God didn’t have to include us in His plans, but He did. God could have easily taken care of the garden Himself, or assigned the task to angels. He chose instead to do it the hard way and let man get involved.. A poster made the rounds many years ago featuring a mother pushing her teen age son in a wheel chair. The caption read: “Of course he can walk, but thank God he doesn’t have to”. How sad! The loving parent does not do for a child what the child is capable of doing by himself. Teaching a child to work is a top priority for godly parents. When man, with God’s help, completes the task there is no place for human pride. For example, while God gave Moses the task of liberating the Hebrew slaves in Egypt, the glory for their deliverance belonged to God Himself. That’s why when the Egyptian army drowned in the Red Sea, Moses sang a song giving glory to God (Ex. 15:1 - 21). In heaven, as you know, we will be singing the same song (Rev. 15:1- 4). The fact that God deserves the glory still does not release us from our responsibilities. When the Master returns He will expect every one of us to give an account of what we did with what He gave us to do (Matt. 25:14 - 28). When the Hebrews came to dwell in Egypt Pharaoh asked Joseph to select men of “activity” to be in charge of his own livestock (Gen. 47:6). The Pharaoh didn’t want lazy people taking care of his flocks and neither does God. God also calls men of “activity” to do His work and has promised to spew Lukewarm people out of His mouth (Rev. 3:16). The second coming of Christ to judge the world is a promise repeated many times in the Scriptures. This promise is frequently associated with warnings to be faithful to do the work God has assigned them to do. Please consider: “Take heed, watch and pray: for ye know not when the time is. For the Son of man is as a man taking a far journey, who left his house, and gave authority to his servants, and to every man his work . . . ” (Mk. 13:33, 34). Believers should not be in darkness that this day should overtake us like a thief. We are the children of the day “Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober” (1 Thess. 5:1 - 9). By one Spirit we were ALL baptized into one body (1 Cor. 12:13). Since there are no vestigial organs in the Body of Christ, the Holy Spirit assigns a work to every member. The Head of the Body is in control, but the members of the Body do the work (1 Cor. 12: 1 - 31). The Vine doesn’t bear fruit, the branches do! God didn’t preach the Gospel in Macedonia, Paul did (Acts 16:9). However, since He has promised to be with us, we can boldly say “The Lord is my Helper”!