There are times when a person faces a challenge that seems insurmountable. The challenge stares him in the face and refuses to bulge. After trying fruitlessly to overcome by their wisdom gained from many years of experience or by the help of their vast social network, they finally come to the realization that the problem is beyond their control. It could be a financial situation, a mortgage case or an educational challenge. It could even be a terminal disease. At such times, it is really quite easy to lose hope and surrender to the turbulent waves of the situation, or you could turn your eyes to the Lord.

David the sweet psalmist sang, “God is a very present help in time of need”. He was faced time after time with situations in which there appeared to be no hope but just as things were about to end in a sad story, he would seek the face of the Lord and find deliverance. It is important for us to know that God IS a very present help in our times of need. The problem most times is that we seek his help and instructions at the last moment and as our last resort. The scripture passage by Isaiah at the beginning of this message carries a tone of confidence and disdain for the enemy. However, this confidence is not self confidence but God confidence. It carries a tone of certainty and assurance in the fact that God will help: “For the Lord God WILL help me…and I know I SHALL NOT be ashamed”.

Just like Isaiah the Prophet, we can also be confident in the help of God. Not just in the fact that God can help us but in the fact that God WILL help us. You do not have to bow down to that situation or circumstance. You don’t have to lie down in defeat or surrender to the enemy. Not when you have a very present help in the person of your God; the Lord God Almighty!

The question however of how to get this help lingers. To explain this, we will go through a brief lesson on Faith. A simple definition of faith is believing that God can do “it” and acting like he can do “it”. The word “It” here refers to whatever you desire God to do for you. In essence, if you believe God can step into that situation and change things for you, then you have to talk like you believe it and act in a manner that shows others that you believe God will step in. For example, if you believe God will step into your situation and save your house from foreclosure, then you won’t move your things from the house or start looking for a basement to rent. The second thing you must do in order to receive the help of God is to go to him and ask him for his direction on what to do. When the families of David’s men were captured and it looked like he had also lost his family, he sought the face of God in the face of an attack from his own men. God instructed him to pursue and that he would surely recover all. To show his faith, David and his men pursued and just as God said, they recovered all and got great spoils from the war.

As I conclude, I must ask what the Lord has asked you to do about that situation. What are you doing about it now? Are your actions a proof of your faith or do they show that you have lost all hope? God is a VERY present help in time of need. You can trust him to help you and can rest assured that he won’t fail you when you need him most. Just put your faith and trust in him, find out what he wants you to do and do it without questioning the wisdom behind his instruction. As you do this, you can be certain that just like Isaiah, you will not be ashamed!