Where Does My Help Come From?

I was in Isaiah 30 and 31 where it talks about Judah seeking help from Egypt instead of trusting God to deliver them. Every time I get discouraged, its the same problem. I'm looking for people to help me and not trusting God to do it for me. Isaiah Chapter 30:16-17 show the people looking for something physical they can touch and see to deliver them. God’s response is letting them know only harm will come from the land they are seeking help from over Him. Verses 18-19 are encouraging because even though He knows they went down the wrong path for deliverance, He waits for them to come to Him to show them compassion. "for the Lord is a faithful God blessed are those who wait for His help."

 v20-21 "though the Lord gave you adversity for food and suffering for drink, He will still be with you to teach you. You will see your Teacher with your own eyes. Your own ears will hear Him. Right behind you a voice will say, " This is the way you should go, whether to the right or the left. " 

v22 "then you will destroy all your silver idols and your precious gold images. You will throw them out like filthy rags, saying to them " Good riddance!" 

I've made getting out of here, the things I want and what I want to do when I get out my idols above Him. v23 -26 tells us what happens when we seek only His help and destroy our idols. "Then the Lord will bless you with rain at planting time. There will be wonderful harvests and plenty of pastureland for your livestock. " 

It’s easy to do like them and look for help from someone powerful here, that I can see. But these two chapters show God does not bless us when we look elsewhere for help over Him. Thankfully He's a patient merciful God who waits for me to turn to Him so He can show me what I'm missing in looking for man to help instead of Him. I know that God will use people to help but my primary focus has been seeking comfort from people over Him the past two days. 

David’s Psalm 142 fits in nicely as a prayer on this circumstance:

“I cry out to the Lord; I plead for the Lord’s mercy. I pour out my complaints before him and tell him all my troubles. When I am overwhelmed, you alone know the way I should turn. Wherever I go, my enemies have set traps for me. I look for someone to come and help me, but no one gives me a passing thought! No one will help me; no one cares a bit what happens to me. Then I pray to you, O Lord. I say, “You are my place of refuge. You are all I really want in life. Hear my cry, for I am very low. Rescue me from my persecutors, for they are too strong for me. Bring me out of prison so I can thank you. The godly will crowd around me, for you are good to me.””

‭‭Psalms‬ ‭142‬:‭1‬-‭7‬ ‭NLT‬‬

David felt the same way I feel but his priority was in check when asking for deliverance. Nobody was helping Him but he was turning to the one source he knew was his refuge. 

I am in no way minimizing the blessings of my supporters when I say I feel like David with nobody caring or helping. I'm speaking specifically to the people in office, who have the power to do something but stand in the gap passively choosing to do nothing to correct a wrong that was done in our system. It will take God moving and stirring the hearts of people who can make a difference in the legal system. Left to themselves, help from man is useless. People in power doing wrong is a tale as old as time and is littered throughout scripture. 

Matthew 14:1-12 tells of Herod who had John the baptist arrested as a favor to his wife. In verse 7 he promised to give her daughter anything she wanted in front of everyone, well she decided she wanted Johns head on a tray. And later, verse 9 says he regretted what he said but because he had made the vow in front of people he went through with beheading John the baptist. Too worried about what he looked like to a crowd over doing what was right. Sound familiar? 

Matthew 27:11-26 tells us the story of Jesus in front of Pilate. Pilate saw no fault in Jesus, His wife told him in v19 to leave the innocent man alone and told him about a dream she had of him. But in v24 we see how quickly leaders fold and throw an innocent man to the wolves because a riot was developing. He said "I am innocent of this mans blood. The responsibility is yours!" Now, we all know if you are the one in a leadership position and choose to do wrong in order to please others, of course the results are on your hands! 

Mordecai's reply to Esther in Esther 5:13-14 resonates strong on this topic. "Don't think for a moment that because you're in the palace you will escape when all the Jews are killed. If you keep quiet at a time like this, deliverance and relief for the Jews will arise from some other place, but you and your relatives will die. Who knows if perhaps you were made queen for such a time as this?" 

Tough choices. Do you make the easy choice of self preservation or do you make a tough choice that takes guts to stand for what's right? If someone reading this is in a position to help, perhaps you were put in office for a time such as this. Will you follow the pattern throughout history of leaders compromising to appease others and keep the heat off of yourselves? Or will you stand for what is right? And to my supporters and people not in positions of power: Are you disappointed in the way elected officials have turned a blind eye and let wrong run rampant? Let them know it. They are elected public servants. If they are doing wrong and none of their voter base is letting them feel any heat for doing wrong and simply sitting by, how is that making a difference? I mean no disrespect, but sitting around the dinner table and talking about how terrible of a situation my family and I are in, isn’t helping. It’s your right as a citizen who put our state leaders in office to let them hear about it. Like we saw in Pilate's case with Jesus, the people's voice is a powerful thing. But the only thing necessary for evil to prevail is for good men and women to stand by and do nothing. I am praying for deliverance from God alone. However, I'm also praying He raises up leaders and citizens to make a loud voice and be used by Him to correct the wrong that has been done. God will get the glory as thousands watch and see what He does. Even if He doesn't deliver me from this injustice, I have an amazing testimony of His faithfulness and provision the past 14 months I've been incarcerated to encourage others with. 

"Hear my cry for I am very low. Rescue me from my persecutors for they are too strong for me. Bring me out of prison so I can thank You. The godly will crowd around me, for You are good to me." Psalm 142:6-7