As I travel a familiar, local route, I pass a simple sign outside a farmer's field that reads, "O Lord, it is nothing with Thee to help." The straightforward plea strikes me every time, and I find its words replaying in my head during the week -- "O Lord, it is nothing with Thee to help."
But sometimes it seems He doesn't.
Sometimes the crops are dry and harvest is scanty.
Sometimes the disease wins and the child dies.
Sometimes the much-prayed-for loved one makes the wrong decision anyway and suffers the hard consequences.
Sometimes the broken relationship remains unrestored, and the resulting hurt doesn't fade over time.
What then? What do we do when the heartache of life seems greater than its joys? How do we makes sense of the promise of the Lord's help?
Maybe, just maybe His help looks different than our preconceived notions of "help." Perhaps He helps not by taking away the pain, but by holding us through it -- the way I "help" my child when she is scared of the dark. I don't make the darkness go away, but instead, I hold her in my arms until she is comforted. When the noise of the vacuum causes her to run to my arms, I don't always turn it off, but hold her while I finish cleaning. She is calmed, comforted, and "helped" as a result feeling safe and secure in my arms, not necessarily from the cessation of what caused her fear.
So when I look for help, I can find it in God. He IS my help.
"Find rest, O my soul, in God alone. My hope comes from Him." (Ps. 62:5)
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