1-25-2024

Good Morning All,       

           Psalm 121: 1-2; “I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come?  My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.”

      I was watching a movie the other day and it was about a group of people who were traveling through a jungle.  Along the way, they were attacked by natives.  They would run a little and then hide.  They would run a little more and then hide a little more.  They went this way and that way, and they kept saying over and over how they were lost.  About halfway through the movie, they decided that one of them would try and go look for help.  They drew straws and the short straw guy took off for help.  The rest of the movie was waiting for him to get help before the natives found them and killed them.  I could never figure out how that guy knew which to go for help.  He didn’t have a compass or a map.  He just took off and found help.  I guess that is why he was the star of the movie.

    So how do you know where to look for help?  In my western movies, the cavalry always comes over the hill at just the last second.  Of course, everything works out in the movies but what about real life?  Where do you look for help?  There are many times when we are like the guy who just took off and went looking for help.  In the movie it worked, in the real world, not so much.  If we were to take off like that, we would soon be very lost or worse, caught by our enemies. 

    Yet some look for help from the strangest places.  It is interesting how many people will believe anything that appears on the internet.  If you go to a bookstore, or maybe Amazon.com, you can find thousands of self-help books.  Unfortunately, they don’t work so well; maybe that is why there are thousands of them.  Where do you look for help?  Some try to use drugs or alcohol to “bring enlightenment.”  Yet this always leads to pain and sorrow.  It is never a good place to look for help’ so where do we look?

    The psalmist tells us to look to God, the One who made heaven and earth.  That is to be your standard.  Is the help that I am seeking coming from the maker of heaven and earth?  If the answer is “yes;” then go forward.  If the answer is “no;” then you might want to think again.  It is only the true God who can ever provide any hope or help. It is only through Him that we have salvation; anything else is a false hope, a false direction and will lead to your destruction.  So, look to God for your help; look to God for your salvation.

Father of all goodness, we look to you as our only hope and you give us comfort and hope.  In you alone we find peace.  Guard and protect us from all harm and danger.  Find those who are searching on their own and finding nothing.  Bring them safely back into your loving kingdom.  Lead them to the quiet still waters of your mercy.  Give to them the consolation which they seek.  In the precious name of Jesus we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret