In Psalm 30, I'm just going to read a portion
of a verse to make the emphasis this morning.
Our message is a five word prayer. And our text is a statement in
verse 10 of this 30th Psalm. Psalm 3010. These are the five
words. Lord, be thou my helper. Lord, be thou my helper. Who is the fool that would not
claim these five words as his or her own plea today? Lord, be thou my helper. It's so appropriate for any person,
any situation, any circumstance. And whoever you are and whatever
your situation is, this is appropriate. It is a bold expression of faith. Notice it's not worded as a question,
Lord, would you be my helper, but rather springing from a definite
relationship and a profound confidence, it's simply, Lord, be thou my
helper. Let's look briefly at each of
these five words before we get our main thought this morning.
The first word of address, Lord, Lord. That's a word of acknowledgement. 1 Corinthians 12, 3 says that
no man can say, that is truly say, that Jesus is the Lord,
but by the Holy Ghost. Now, the religious world can
say it, even the non-religious world can say it, the Lord this,
and the Lord that, and so on. But to say it with conviction,
to say it with heart, to say it with acknowledgment of who
He really is, it requires the indwelling of the Holy Ghost
to truly call Jesus Lord, is what He's saying. So it's a word
of acknowledgment, then it's a word of authority, Lord, Lord. Isaiah 45.5, He said, I am the
Lord. There is none else. There is
no God beside me. So a word of acknowledgement,
a word of authority, Lord. And then the second word is be. Lord be. It's a call for the
Lord to step into whatever need I have. Lord, whatever I need,
you be that. As one of your struggling sheep,
be my shepherd. As a stranger and pilgrim in
this world, be my friend. As a traveler, be my guide. As
a weary one, be my rest. As a weak one, be my strength. As a foolish one, be my wisdom. As a fearful one, be my courage. As a fallen one, be my savior. Be my restorer. Whatever I need,
Lord, you be that. Then the third word is thou.
Lord, be thou. That's a personal word. The psalmist
is not addressing any and all false gods or man's ideas of
deity, but it's Lord, be thou personally. You're the only one
I'm looking to. You're the only one I'm trusting
in, thou. And then the fourth word is my. That's a very private word, my.
Lord, I ask this for me. It's in my best interest to cry
to the one that I believe can help me. He's saying, Lord, I
believe you to be in a class all by yourself. You're my hope. And I'm asking for me, Lord,
to help me. To say as the old song did, it's
not my brother, it's not my sister, but it's me, O Lord, standing
in the need of prayer. My, my, such a private word. Lord, be thou my. And then the fifth word is helper,
helper, helper. Lord, I don't want you to stay
away. I want you to involve yourself. with me. That'd be a good prayer for us,
wouldn't it? I want you to involve yourself with me. I don't just
need advice. I need your ability. I don't just need your input.
I need your intervention. I don't need you as a distant
deity, far away God. I need you as a close deliverer
for my soul. I don't need you as a potential
helper for our children in the future somewhere. I need you
as a powerful helper for my present, where I'm at right now. Well, last Lord's Day, January
1st, New Year's Day, My mind had been so overwhelmed with
various situations and circumstances, I hadn't even really been able
to meditate on the fact. It hadn't really registered with
me that we were already in a new year. I'm about a week behind. I think that's dawned on me now. But today, January 8th, I want to
present this text, this five-word prayer, as a New Year's prayer, a New Year's resolution, if you
don't mind that terminology, that we, both as individuals
and as a congregation, embrace these five words. Lord, be thou
my helper. We need this with a strong conviction
that in our waking moment, first thing in the morning, our mind
would be, Lord, be thou my helper. And with moving lips and tongue
to utter it and say it audibly, Lord, Be thou my helper. It's so big. These five words,
they first of all confront and clash with our depraved nature, with human pride, sinful pride
to be independent of God. They, these words, clash with our nature, which would
jump out of bed saying, I know what I'm doing. I'm able to do
it. And all I need out of God or
anybody else today is just to stay out of my way. You say, oh, I've never seen
anything like it. I know that's putting it bluntly, but thanks
to a sinful nature, That is what you are. That is who you are. But all for the humbling of grace,
for the light of grace, the abundance of mercy that we recognize and
confess our weakness and our inability. And for grace to cry out with
the psalmist, Lord, be thou my helper. So I just want to refer
to three things briefly this morning will not be very long.
Number one, Lord, be thou my helper in my efforts to understand
and to submit to thy strange providence. I do know that suffering is a
tool in God's hands. that He uses for the humbling
and for the maturing of His people. I do know that the trying of
our faith is a necessary thing, a very valuable thing, but I'm
just going to be honest with you, I still don't like it that
so many bad things happen to so many good people and so many
good things happen to so many bad people. Even King Solomon, with all his
wisdom, he had a problem with it. And in the book of Ecclesiastes,
he as good as said, there's no advantage to living godly rather
than ungodly. He said good comes to the wicked,
evil comes to the godly. None of it makes any sense. But I want to say that I've been
helped greatly by the old psalmist Asaph in Psalm 73. And I'd encourage
you to read Psalm 73. He said, I was in a mess. My
feet were almost gone, my steps had well nigh slipped. For I
was envious at the foolish when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. You say, oh, well, I'd never
be like that. Is that so? Is that so? I was envious at
the wicked when I saw, or the foolish, I
was envious at the foolish when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. And Asaph went on to say in that
73rd Psalm, he said, seems like they don't have trouble like
other men. Their families never sick and
seem like they never have a problem of any kind Their lives really
are a bed of roses looks like And Asa said that was eating
me alive Until Until I went into the sanctuary
of God. Then I understood their end."
What did he mean by that? He meant, I understood that God
had set them in slippery places. All their good times, all their
prosperity, all their pleasure, all their ease in this life,
God set them in slippery places, not to slip and fall in this
world, but to live in this world free from pain, full of pleasure
and prosperity, such as to never see their need of God and to
die and slip off into hell forever. He said, I was envious of that
crowd until I saw that this is the only heaven they have. Until I saw that God had let
them have it so nicely in this world to live so as to never
be brought to consciously see and feel their need of Him. In so many words, Asaph was saying,
I saw then that my trouble is my treasure. And we don't really like to say
that, do we? My trouble is my treasure. Oh, but it is. Oh, but it is. And whatever it
takes, to maintain in my heart and in your heart a strong conviction
that we so greatly need God. Those things are treasures in
disguise. Whether it be cancer, whether
it be a bummed up knee, a bummed up shoulder, whatever it is,
these things, if they create and maintain in our hearts a
strong conviction that I so greatly need God. Those things are treasures
in disguise. But knowing this as I do, I still
catch myself at times grumbling in my spirit and arguing with
the Lord about his works of providence. And I do so greatly need this
prayer. Lord, be thou my helper in my
efforts to understand and submit to thy strange providences. Somebody says, oh, I just amazed
every day. I just really look forward to
whatever it is the Lord is going to do. And I just I'm just amazed
at what he does. Everything is just lovely. I
just love every way everything goes. Stay away from me. Stay away from me. I have problems
with the way a lot of things go. But at the same time, I know
that things go God's way. Second thought, you're acting
like I'm in left field or something, I don't know, but here we go.
Second thought, and I've done promised you I'm not going to
be very long, so listen to me. Number two, Lord, be thou my
helper in acknowledgement of my spiritual
poverty. It is only in full realization
of our unworthiness and our inability that we can approach God rightly. Approaching God rightly is the
helpless crying to the helper. I think of the prayer of the
poor Canaanite woman in Matthew 15. She could only say, Lord, help
me. Three words. Simon Peter, sinking beneath
the waves, could only say, Lord save me. Three words. In their
desperation, they skipped all the preliminaries of prayer,
and they skipped all the formalities of prayer, and they just cried,
Lord help. Help, Lord. I want to ask you this morning,
do you ever feel the prayerlessness of your prayers? I do. God forbid that we should ever
be identified with the Pharisee in Luke 18. He said, Lord, you know how well
I've lived and what good things I've done,
how I've done everything right. He was really saying, I am worthy
that you would hear me. It's really what he was saying. I go to church just about every
Sunday. I'm better than most people I know. Don't waste your
breath. Don't waste your breath. We enter God's presence by a
new and living way. And it's not your way. It's not
my way. Hebrews 10, 19 and 20 says, having
therefore brethren boldness to enter into the holiest by the
blood of Jesus. By a new and living way. which
he hath consecrated for us through the veil, that is to say, his
flesh. Could I remind you that all the
good deeds you've ever done, all put together, is not enough
to secure you a safe entrance into God's presence even one
time? No. But by his blood, The way
is opened up and we can freely approach God by Christ's merits,
never by ours, never by ours. There is a certain religious
society in our area of the country, so conservative, they say, that the longer they live and
Walk the narrow road, so-called. The more qualified they are and
the more worthy they are to approach God and expect his blessing.
But you see real life is just the opposite. The new Testament is just the
opposite. The apostle Paul is a good example. He saw his life
go in the other direction. Early in his ministry, he had
made the statement to the Corinthians, I am the least of the apostles
and am not meet to be called an apostle. I'm the least one of the bunch.
Well, that was quite a confession. But sometime later, he said,
I am less than the least of all saints. Not only am I the most
unworthy of all the apostles, but of all God's children in
all the world, in every generation, I am less than the least of any
of them. What about a man like the apostle
Paul making a statement like that? But he's not through. The longer he lived as an old-seasoned
saint, he one day opened his heart to his friend Timothy in
a personal letter. And he said, Timothy, I tell
you what, of all the sinners Christ Jesus came into the world
to save, I'm the chief. I'm the worst one. of all. You see, most folks' religion
has got them a little more worthy than they once were. They're going the wrong direction. The old patriarch Abraham came
to the place in life of saying, I am but dust and ashes. Ain't nothing to me It's all
God. Job saw his spiritual poverty
and he said, I abhor myself. I despise myself. I know what
I ought to be. And I can look in the mirror
and dress up the outside pretty good, but I know in here it's
garbage. I abhor myself. Jeremiah saw
it and said, I am become vile. Isaiah saw it and said, I am
undone. I'm a man of unclean lips. David
saw it and said, I'm a worm. I'm nothing. Paul saw it and
said, oh, wretched man that I am. And I pray, oh, Lord, help me
to see it, help you to see it. Oh, Lord, be thou my helper in
acknowledgement of my spiritual poverty. It don't matter that
friends think I'm a pretty good fella. I mean, you might find
one or two that would say that. I don't know. And it don't matter
that friends think you're a pretty good person. But to look in the
mirror and say, Lord, you know me. You know me. You know I'll take the credit
if you'll let me. You know me. Lord, please don't let me. Lord,
be thou my helper in acknowledgement of my spiritual poverty. And
then the third thought, Lord, be thou my helper in believing
thy sure promises, in believing thy sure promises. And this addresses
the problem of unbelief that we all have. It's often been stated, how many
times does the Lord have to say something for it to be true?
And of course, the answer is only once. Only once. But how many times do I have
to read it to believe it? That's another question. I read it a million times. Still
catch myself not believing it. But you see, the answer again
is only once. Only once affectionately. Only once with the Holy Spirit
pressing it on my heart and in my heart. I believe it when he
helps me believe it. No other time and no other way. That's why I need him. And I must cry to him, Lord,
be thou my helper. We identify so clearly with the
man in Mark 9 who said, Lord, I believe, help thou mine unbelief. We testify this morning that
we're believers, but like this man at the same time, we're eat
up with unbelief. Lord, be thou my helper. You see, you don't have to hold
God to his promises. He holds himself to them. He can be trusted to do what
he said he'd do. You don't have to twist his arm. He'll do it. He'll do it. One
other thought, and I'll be through. And I want you to get this thought
with this challenge For the new year, we referred earlier to
the prayer of the woman in Matthew 15, Lord helped me. And the prayer
of Peter sinking beneath the waves, Lord saved me. How are those prayers different
from this of our text? Lord be thou my helper. Well, here's the difference.
Here's the difference. You get sick and you go to the
doctor and the plea is, Doc, help me today, I'm sick. But suppose you have moved to
another town and you're looking for a new doctor and you try
one and you like him, then your question is not just, will you
doctor me today? Your question is, will you be
my doctor? from now on, that I can come
to, that I can depend on, that I can trust for help when I need
you. And the Psalmist here is saying
more than, Lord, help me. He's saying, Lord, be thou my
helper. I want you to be the one that
my heart will look to and trust in and depend on from now on. So that's our prayer this morning.
Lord, be thou my helper. Not just for today, but for all
year and for all of life. Oh, we're all going to have these
getting this pinch. These sudden emergencies. You
see the blue light behind you and say, Lord, help me. Or you slip and fall and you
hear that leg or arm pop. Lord, help me. This is more than that. This
is, Lord, be thou my helper. Not just to solve problems outwardly,
but to solve my heart problem. Lord, be the one that I trust
in, whether it's sunshine or storm, whether it's daylight
or dark, whether it's many friends or no friends, whether it's a
pocket full of money or not a dime to my name. Lord, be thou my
helper. Lord, if you'll be there for
me, You're big enough to make the difference. Lord, be thou
my helper. Happy New Year. Stand together.