I Thought You Were Going To Help Me by Dawn White

 I Thought You Were Going to Help Me

Scripture:  Is. 41:13

For I am the LORD, your God, who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you.

This is an exciting time academically for my 6 year old.  Reading concepts are starting to gel and the sounding out of words is getting easier and easier.  However, as is our human nature, she really prefers for me to read for her.  We were working on a reading exercise just this week.  She quickly assessed the paper and determined that it was too hard for her and that she’d need help.  I assured her that I would help her.  She began reading the sentence and came to a word she didn’t know.  She looked at me for me to tell her the word.  I responded with, ‘Sound it out.’  And she replied, ‘I thought you were going to help me.’  

The instant she uttered those words, the Lord spoke to me and said, “And, that’s how it is with you also.”  You see, I had full intentions of helping her, after she did her part of trying to sound out the word.  Her expectation was that I was going to deliver her from that exercise.  And so it is with me and God.  I rely on His promises day in and day out.  But, along with those promises, I have my own ideas of how He is going to fulfill those promises. 

The scripture above promises His help, it doesn’t promise to take away the struggle, the trial, the burden, or any other situation that will build your character and grow you spiritually.  It simply promises help.  Numerous times I have missed the help because it didn’t come in the way I was expecting it to.

With my 6 year old, if I continue to read for her, I rob her of the opportunity to develop her own reading skills.  She has to do that work to develop those skills.  And so must we; we must do the work that God has placed before us, understanding that He is truly helping us.  He knows what lies ahead and what we need to do to prepare for that.

One of my daughters has a cleaning job for an elderly lady.  I was recently doing that job for her while she was out of town.  The morning before I was going to clean, I asked the Lord how I could serve Him that day.  He told me to clean the house for free.  That was not what I was expecting to hear and I have to admit that I cringed when He told me, as I had plans for that money.  But the Lord was looking at a bigger picture than just that cleaning job.  I was also believing for Him to provide me with the funds to purchase our school curriculum.  Within a week after cleaning the house at no charge, I had 10 times what I would have received from the cleaning job.  I needed to sow that money in order to reap the harvest that I needed for curriculum.  Praise God I was obedient or we might still be on summer break!!!

God will help you, He’s there and willing, if we just ask.  But be prepared, the assistance that you receive may be different than your expectations.  You may have heard the saying, ‘You can give a man a fish, or you can teach him how to fish.’  The essence of this statement is that it’s better to teach the man, than let him stay where he’s at, depending on others to provide him with fish.  God will teach you how to fish, I can guarantee you!  And we are better for it!  Let Him help you His way, you’ll look back someday and be thankful He did.

Be Blessed!