#DailyDevotion Call Upon The LORD To Be Your Help & Deliverance
Psalm 70 Come quickly, O God, to rescue me, O LORD, to help me.
Such is our cry when something is going wrong. Well, if it isn’t, this is a good time to start. Why wait for this to get this to get worse? Jesus didn’t wait. Jesus being a good Jew prayed this Psalm. It may have been one He prayed in the garden as He awaited to be betrayed by His disciple Judas. God helps those who earnestly call upon Him. How often does God, the LORD, invite us, command us to turn to Him for help but we believe the lie, “God helps those who help themselves,” and we don’t pray? Put your trust and hope in God, Your Father, through His Son, Jesus Christ.
2May those who are trying to destroy me be disappointed and ashamed, and those who delight in harming me turn back in disgrace. 3May those who say, “Aha! Aha!” be appalled by their own shame.
Indeed, such is the fate of those who without cause harm God’s anointed One, Jesus Christ, who also did not repent of it. We can see how they were turned back in shame when the Romans destroyed Jerusalem. They indeed were appalled by their own shame on that day. Yet, in baptism, as we are joined to Christ Jesus, we too are God’s anointed. I know it seems like they get away with it when they cause us trouble. It was 40 years between Jesus’ crucifixion and the destruction of Jerusalem. The LORD often gives ample time for people to turn from their sin and to turn to Jesus before executing justice for His people. He, and we should, desire people to repent of their sins and turn to Jesus. We want them to join us in our union with Christ Jesus. But if they do not repent, this curse shall be their end.
4But may all who look to You for help find joy and delight in You. May those who love You for saving them always say, “God is great!”
This blessing will come upon all who look to the LORD and cry to Him for help. Jesus prayed this prayer in the garden. He is sitting at the right hand of God. When Jesus becomes our help, joy and delight, we are seated with Him in the heavenly places. In Revelation, Jesus tells us if we endure He will place us on His Father’s throne. How often has God saved us, not only from our sin but many of the trials and tribulations of our lives? Should we not love Him for that? At the very least, we should recognize the great redemption and salvation He has provided us in Christ from sin and eternal death. That alone is enough for us to love Him and shout, “God is great!”
5I am poor and needy, O God, come to me quickly. You are my Helper and my Deliverer; O LORD, don’t delay!
Jesus indeed was poor and needy. He did not have a home to call His own to lay His head. He depended on the LORD to provide for Him. He prayed to God to come to Him quickly. The LORD, the Father, was His Helper and Deliverer. The Father raised Jesus from the dead on the third day. It may seem like the Father delayed, but Scripture had to be fulfilled. It may seem at times God is delaying answering our prayers. He is not. In His great wisdom, He knows what needs to come to pass, what other things He must bring about before our prayers can be answered. Of course, sometimes what we pray for is not what is best for us and for others. We must trust He is wiser than us. The prayer is not no, but not what you think is but what God knows is best. We can trust Him to be our Helper and our Deliverer in the day and the time of trouble. We are His dear children through faith in Jesus Christ. If you doubt that any, look to the cross of Christ and know how much He loves you to put His Son through that for your salvation.
Merciful God and Father, be for us our Help and Deliverance in the day of trouble. May we in love, delight and joy shout God is great in the great assembly. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.