‘Happy is he who has the God of Jacob for his help, Whose hope is in the Lord his God,’
Psalms 146:5
Recently, someone I deeply respect, a member of my own community, went through a rough patch and reached out for support. I was not offended at all. I have had seasons when I needed help too, and I still do. So asking for support is not a problem. What she needed was not beyond my capacity. I assured her that it was something I would do.
Back and Forth
At the time, I was in another West African country, and I knew that changing that currency to naira was not straightforward. So I reached out to my husband to help from home. He agreed and asked me to send him the lady’s account number. So I reached out to her and asked for her account details. She sent them to me. But the name on the account did not match the name I knew her by. And this is Nigeria. Anything can happen. People’s accounts get hacked. Someone can message you pretending to be another person and ask you to send money to a different account. So I became concerned.
To be sure, I decided to reach out to her husband. I tried calling him, but his number did not go through. I did not have any other number to reach him. And because we were communicating online, it took a while to go back and forth trying to confirm everything. Within those few hours, something urgent came up. Since my resources were limited, the money I had intended to send had to go into that situation immediately. So I could not send the money at that time.
Dissappoint-er
This was someone I promised. And that hurt me deeply. I like to be there for people. I like to help when I can. I also know what it feels like to be the one calling for help, waiting, hoping, checking your phone, expecting a response. Your mind is fixed on that person coming through for you. When they do not, it can be disappointing and heartbreaking.
I am sharing this story so you can understand something from the perspective of the person helping. Sometimes, the person you call for help has the best intentions and still cannot come through. They may be good, solid, and sincere. They may truly want to help you. But circumstances can limit their capacity.
Hope In God
Yes, some people are deceptive. But many times, people genuinely want to help and simply cannot. This is a reminder that even the good-intentioned people can disappoint. So when you ask for help, do not fix your hope on people. Fix your hope on God. Happy is the one who has the God of Jacob for his help. There is certainty in the God of Jacob that you will never find in man.
God did not say you should not ask for help. But when you do, your trust must be in Him. People can change their minds. Emergencies can arise. Capacity can fail. And when your hope is in man, your heart becomes vulnerable to disappointment. But when your hope is in God, the end will be good.
If one person does not work out, God will raise another. And sometimes God will even resolve the issue without using the person you called. In this case, the issue was resolved without my help. I felt bad, but I was grateful. It showed me that their hope was not in me, but in God. It is good to be used by God. It is good to ask for help when you need it. But man may disappoint. God never will.
Prayer
“Lord, I lift my eyes to You. You are my ever-present help. Even when I ask others for support, my hope remains in You. No matter what happens, I trust that You have a strategy to help me.”
Shift your focus from people to God. Place your hope and attention on Him alone. Only He can truly help. Only He can truly save.
God bless you, in Jesus’ name.
Amen