Call for Help!
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A PRAYER TO BE SAID
WHEN THE WORLD HAS GOTTEN YOU DOWN,
AND YOU FEEL ROTTEN.
AND YOU’RE TOO DOGGONE TIRED TO PRAY.
AND YOU’RE IN A BIG HURRY,
AND BESIDES. YOU’RE MAD AT EVERYBODY…
Help!
There it was. Out of those posters. Some are funny. Some are clever. Others beautiful. A few,
thought provoking. This one? Convincing. God really wanted me to get the message. He nudged me at a Christian conference center recently when I first read it in an administrator’s office. A few weeks and many miles later He shot me the signal again—I practically ran into the same poster in a friends office. Then just last week, while moving faster than a speeding bullet through a Houston publishing firm. I came face to face with it again. But this time the message broke through my defenses and wrestled me to the mat for the full count.
“My son, slow down. Ease back. Admit your needs.” Such good counsel. But so tough to carry out. Why is that? Why in the world is it such a struggle for us to cry out for assistance?
• Ants do it all the time and look at all they achieve.
• In my whole life I have never seen a football game won without or delicate operations.
• Even the finest of surgeons will arrange for help in extensive or delicate operations.
• Highway patrolmen travel in pairs.
• Through my whole career in the Army I was drilled to dig a foxhole for two in the event of
battle.
Asking for help is smart. It’s also the answer to fatigue and the “I’m indispensable” image. But something keeps us from this wise course of action, and that something is pride. Plain, stubborn unwillingness to admit need. The greatest battle many believers fight today is not with inefficiency, but with superefficiency. It’s been bred into us by high-achieving parents, through years of high pressure competition in school, and by that unyielding inner voice that keeps urging us to “Prove it to ‘em! Show ‘em you can do it without anyone’s help!”
The result, painful though it is to admit, is a life-style of impatience. We work longer hours. Take less time off. Forget how to laugh. Cancel vacations. Allow longer and longer gaps between meaningful times in God’s Word. Enjoy fewer and fewer moments in prayer and meditation. And all the while the specter of discouragement looms across our horizon like a dark storm front—threatening to choke out any remaining sunshine.
Say, my friend, it’s time to declare it. You are not the Messiah of the twenty first century! There is no way you can keep pushing your life at that pace and expect to stay effective. Analyze yourself any way you please, you are H-U-M-A-N… nothing more. So? So slow down. So give yourself a break. So stop trying to cover all the bases and sell popcorn in the stands at the same time. So relax for a change!
Once you’ve put it in neutral, crack open your Bible to Exodus 18 and read aloud verses 18-27. It’s the account of a visit Jethro made to the workplace of his son-in-law. A fella by the name of Moses. Old Jethro frowned as he watched Moses flash from one need to another, from one person to another. From early morning until late at night the harried leader of the Israelites was neck-deep in decisions and activities. He must have looked very impressive—eating on the run, ripping from one end of camp to the other, planning appointments, meeting deadlines.
But Jethro wasn’t impressed. “What is this thing that you are doing for the people?” he asked. Moses was somewhat defensive (most too-busy people are) as he attempted to justify his ridiculous schedule. Jethro didn’t buy the story. Instead, he advised his son-in-law against trying to do everything alone. He reproved him with strong words:
The thing that you are doing is not good. You will surely wear out…
The Hebrew term means “to become old, exhausted.” In three words, he told Moses to
CALL FOR HELP
The benefits of shifting and sharing the load? Read verses 22-23 for yourself. “It will be easier for you… you will be able to endure.” That’s interesting, isn’t it? God wants our life style to be easier than most of us realize. We seem to think it’s more commendable and “spiritual” to have that tired blood, overworked-underpaid. I’ve-really-got-it-tough look. You know, the martyr complex. That strained expression that conveys “I’m working so hard for Jesus” to the public. Maybe they’re fooled, but He isn’t. The truth of the matter is quite the contrary. That hurried, harried appearance usually means, “I’m too stubborn to slow down” or “I’m too insecure to say ‘no’” or “I’m too proud to ask for help.”
Sure when is a bleeding ulcer sign of spirituality? Or no time off and a seventy-hour week a mark of efficiency? When will we learn that efficiency in enhanced not by what we accomplish but more often by what we relinquish?
The world beginning to get you down? Feeling rotten? Too tired to pray… in too big a hurry? Ticked off at a lot of folks? Let me suggest one of the few four-letter words God loves to hear us shout when we’re angry or discouraged:
HELP!
Deepening Your Roots
Exodus 18:13-27/ Nehemiah 2:11-18; Philippians 2:19-30; Philippians 4:2-3Branching Out
1. Ask someone to help you today.
2. Next time someone yells for help, immediately stop what you are doing and assist the person. Don’t ask them what’s wrong. Go help!
3. Before someone asks you to help … offer it.
Growing Strong
Putting others first. That’s what this week was all about. Hey, isn’t caring more exciting than dwelling upon yourself? I love it! And I love the thought that you’re giving to others. Keep up the great attitude and superb actions. Now…who can you comfort today?
In Christ, David
