Help When We Need It Most

December 1, 2023

So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most. Hebrews 4:16 NLT

I call myself the Google queen. I don’t know what I would do without search engines. The old days of doing homework, doing research for graduate-school projects computerless, with an old word processor and hard copy book and encyclopedias … I can hardly fathom it, let alone explain it to young people.

And a GPS? I can hardly picture how I functioned without it. I literally have no innate sense of direction, and my husband would painstakingly give me very detailed written directions when I had to travel distances without the luxury of a cell phone and the mind of a GPS.

However, the advent of this kind of technology has changed my life in those arenas. Everything I need for research or for getting directions is available to me wherever I am. It’s at my fingertips. I just have to use it.

Far greater than those resources, however, is the resource for a deeper, far more significant need. I need wisdom for today and tomorrow. I need to know how to lead myself, my children, my “people” well. Not getting what I need in this area is far more impactful than a low grade on a project or hours wandering around lost. Missteps in these areas carry consequences into the future. More importantly, leading well will help us live with joy in the life God designed us to have.

But life is confusing. There are temptations and supposed “wisdom” coming at us from many directions, and we don’t know what to do. We can easily do the wrong thing or we can be so paralyzed by the options and the significance that we do nothing.

BUT – we have a resource, a directional option, that is so valuable, we should never attempt to live without it. It is going to the Source of all wisdom, mercy, and grace – God Himself. Just as history tells us about former President John Kennedy regularly welcoming his son John-John, as a little guy, to come into the prestigious Oval Office and sit under the desk to talk with his dad, we can boldly, as a beloved child, approach the throne of our gracious Father. No matter what our need, we will find mercy (compassion and forgiveness) and grace (undeserved favor and blessing) to help us – just what we need most, just when we need it most.

Our Father equips us with what we need most when we need it most, and then we are able to pass it on.

• Prayer: Tell your Father just what you need today.