1 How blessed is he who considers the helpless;
The Lord will deliver him in a day of trouble.
2 The Lord will protect him and keep him alive,
And he shall be called blessed upon the earth;
And do not give him over to the desire of his enemies.
3 The Lord will sustain him upon his sickbed;
In his illness, You restore him to health.
Psalm 41:1–3 (NASB95)
Jesus has fulfilled this promise to our family.
We bought roughly a dozen brand new winter coats, deep discounted, tax-deductible on regular price, and gave them to In The Image because In The Image gives its goods away free to the materially challenged. Why did we buy the coats? God suggested it when we went through that major department store.
We support kids in under-developed countries to give them food, medical care, education and the opportunity to know Jesus if they desire. Again, Jesus prompted the giving.
We have supported our church and that church tangibly demonstrates and shares the love of Jesus for all people. God through the Bible suggested it.
We support a Pastor who reaches desperate married couples on the edge of divorce with a proven, powerful, message and plan that can eventually bring their marriage to wholeness. We do this because of God’s prompting.
I and my team invested hours upon hours bringing our Mental Health Support Group to life. People that had been told that mental illness was their fault, that they weren’t obedient to Jesus, that they didn’t have enough faith, etc. were told the truth: Jesus loves them just as they are, mental illness is not being disobedient, mental illness is not their fault. Our group was known for hope, healing, and hilarity. God led me for over six years to help make this successful for three years. God again prompted this.
So we have scratched the surface of helping the helpless.
Did God keep his promise?
He has saved me from trouble and death:
I have witnessed God saving me from car accidents times without number and occasionally saving me from even death.
He sustained me on my sickbed:
Even though I’m in my sixties, majorly overweight, completely out of shape, when I got COVID-19 God healed me.
He blessed me, thwarting the plan of my enemy:
When a supervisor made a false accusation about me that I wanted to harm her, God had already had me interview for another job an hour before I was informed of her plan to force me out. I believed God was sending me a message to leave and I quit without knowing if I had the new job. I got the new job two weeks later.
Jesus told a parable about a servant that was working, came in from the field, first served his master dinner (gave his Master the true and rightful credit) and then afterward he ate dinner (Jesus said, “the slave doesn’t deserve praise for doing what he was told does he?” We slaves are to say: “We are unprofitable servants, we have only done what was expected”).
If you choose to help the helpless in real and meaningful ways, Jesus will help you in real and meaningful ways. We don’t work to get Jesus to love us, we work BECAUSE JESUS ALREADY LOVES US.
(Consider: Jesus says not to do things to obtain the praise of men. But what if we do things because we love people because Jesus loves us? I think if we made this distinction we may flood the world with communications of what Jesus is doing through his people).
