God Is Our Helper!

“O give us help from against the adversary, for deliverance by man is in vain.”

-Psalm 60:11

Here is a great and necessary reminder that believers ought to seek help from God. It is indeed a basic Christian principle, but one that our pride tends to dispense with. Note carefully how John Calvin distinguishes God’s help that arrives via human agency:

“God, in accomplishing our preservation, may use the agency of man, but he reserves it to himself, as his peculiar prerogative, to deliver, and will not suffer them to rob him of his glory. The deliverance which comes to us in this manner through human agency must properly be ascribed to God. All that David meant to assert is, that such confidences as are not derived from God are worthless and in vain. And to confirm this position he declares in the last verse of the psalm, that as, on the one hand, we can do nothing without him, so, on the other, we can do all things by his help” (Heart Aflame, Calvin, p.144).

Do you see the implication? The implication that while we may cry and seek God to hear and answer us in our deepest troubles, and even in the ordinary struggles of everyday life, that He is not absent nor has He turned a deaf ear to you? The very encouraging words you hear from a brother or sister in the midst of your discouragement, the very gracious monetary gift you receive in the midst of your economic struggles, the very hug that you receive from your spouse or child in the midst of your weakness, the very piercing words that you hear in a sermon in the midst of your self-pity and doubt, and so forth, are divine mercies that flow down to you from our helping God above. Perhaps, we may have thought to ourselves, “How is it that so and so shows me so much love and care but God seems absent?” or “How is it that that my friend seems to listen to my struggles but God just seems to not care?” Well, the chances are, and biblically speaking, that very love and care you have received, that very friend who cares to listen to your struggles, is not merely that which arises out of his or her virtue but rather “God’s help that arrives via human agency.” Now, this human agency does not negate human responsibility, which means that we ought to sincerely thank the very individuals who sincerely help, love, and support us, but it does entail God’s sovereign arrangement of people, place, and time to help you in your time of need. So, look back at all the gifts and helps you have received from man, and hopefully you will be able to see God’s helping hand in much of it. From henceforth, rob Him not of His glory.