Where Does My Help Come From?

 

Wellspring hosted its first ever retreat at the YMCA camp of the Rockies the weekend of November 2, 2007.  OK, this one was with 9 members of our family but we wanted to give a test of a quiet retreat on our own family members before we ventured out with real people (not to say our family members are not real people!).  It was a time to stretch in our faith, to trust God with the weekend, to pray that each of us could make space for God to enter into our lives, and that even the youngest among us would enjoy the times of silence and solitude with our Heavenly Father.

We had brief moments for teaching on meditation, journaling and solitude but the bulk of our time seeking God was done in silence. 

Our theme was Psalm 121.  Where does our help come from?  This was our challenge for the weekend: to meditate on this passage in particular and the entire Psalm for guidance on where our help is to be found. 

This has became clear to me in past situations in my life…I often look to circumstances and to others for help and well-being and validation and hope.   All of us can fall into this trap.  We want evidence that things are right with us and if things are not, we constantly search for answers to our deep struggles in so many different places.  We can look for help and well-being in books, magazines, TV, movies, counselors, doctors, friends, chat lines, myspace/facebook and a myriad of websites (OK it is fine to check out the wellspring site on occassion) and maybe even from teachings in the church that may tickle our ears.   I am aware that God can use many different ways to get through to us including some of the above, but, when in our striving for answers we stop short of heaven we will miss our true help.  Our true Helper is God.  In fact the Holy Spirit is referred to as the Helper that Jesus speaks of as coming after He departs (John 14:16).  I need His help, believe me.  You need His help.

Is this help elusive and difficult to obtain?  It just may be if we don’t trust in the Father’s care and if we hurry through life without taking the time seek Him.  Truly His help is available always.  If we can take some moments on a daily basis to meet with Him and make time for regular extended visits with Jesus on quiet retreats or long walks or hikes or whatever we find that moves us to look beyond ourselves, we will find He is closer than we could have imagined.

As I focused on the Psalm something began to emerge from verse 7…The Lord will keep you from all harm…It wasn’t the avoidance of harm that caught my attention, it was the keeping part.  The Lord will keep you…became The Lord will keep ME…then a prayer from me to God ”keep me”…and finally the Lord saying…”I will keep you”.  I became aware of His kind intention to not leave me or lose me from His care.   Like the writer of the Psalm I could say my help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth.

I think all of us benefitted from this focused time.  We hope to do this again and invite some “real” people the next time.  We were just pleased that everyone who started with us, finished the weekend with us.  No one left early   Of course Dave and I had the keys to the cars…

Psalm 121 A song of ascents. 1 I lift up my eyes to the hills– where does my help come from? 2 My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth. 3 He will not let your foot slip– he who watches over you will not slumber; 4 indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. 5 The LORD watches over you– the LORD is your shade at your right hand; 6 the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night. 7 The LORD will keep you from all harm– he will watch over your life; 8 the LORD will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.

Scott for Wellspring copyright 2007

Children Who Wander and the Father Who Pursues

Isaiah 1:2-3 Hear, O heavens! Listen, O earth! For the LORD has spoken: “I reared children and brought them up, but they have rebelled against me. The ox knows his master, the donkey his owner’s manger, but Israel does not know, my people do not understand.”  

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Matt. 23:37 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing.  

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I have often been like a child who wanders to and fro never finding home.  I have many times let fear, anxiety, pride, selfishness, and lack of trust take me to faraway places.  Places distant as the journey of the prodigal.  My Father has longed to reach out to me, to hold me, to tell me He loves me.   He longed to comfort me in my trials and afflictions and in the little nits of life.  But there were times when I was unwilling to rest in His arms…why, I do not know. 

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The ox knows his master, the donkey his owner’s manger, but there were times when I did not know the way to my Father’s arms.   

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Seven hundred years or so marked the time from the passage in Isaiah to the time when Christ longed for His children in Jerusalem expressed in Matthew.  The relentless pursuit of God for us goes beyond even this long span of years.  He has pursued man ever since Adam hid in the garden…”Where are you?” He asked of Adam.  He pursues us each day in many wonderful ways often unbeknownst to our busy lives and minds and hearts.  We wonder why our Father has stopped looking after us or loving us, but if this is our thought or concern we are mistaken. 

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This I have finally learned deep in my heart, God always pursues and always longs to hold His children.  He always loves.   

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Mark 10: 13-16 People were bringing little children to Jesus to have him touch them, but the disciples rebuked them. When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.”   And he took the children in his arms, put his hands on them and blessed them.

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Like little children, let’s come to Jesus and rest in His arms.  Let’s accept that heavenly embrace.    This is our God’s heart.  He pursues us. 

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I know where I belong and will no longer run to distant lands. 

Scott for Wellspring © copyright 2007