Where does my help come from?

My husband preached today on Psalm 121:1-2. I was wanting to blog about these verses a few weeks ago, but after talking about it to my him, he was inspired to preach about it today!

So I held off blogging about it until now!

I will lift up my eyes to the mountains; from where shall my help come?
My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth. Psalm 121:1-2

I had one of those mornings a few weeks ago. It was my husband's day off, and he had been unwell, and unable to be an active part of our morning routine! I had slept in a bit (as I often do when its his day off!) and so we were pressed for time and I was getting frustrated and impatient at all that had to get done before school and kindy drop offs. I have to confess that I got annoyed at my husband, and felt that he wasn't helping me, that I had to do everything by myself! Well, as we got in the car it didn't take long for him to realise that I was grumpy, with him! He dropped me off to school with my daughter and then took the others to kindy, he would come back for me later. After I took my daughter to class I had about 10 minutes by myself waiting for my husband to come pick me up. I was feeling rather horrible inside, and then the words of Paslm 121 came into my head. This is one of my favourite Psalms and I love the way Sons of Korah sing it, the words and tune came into my head. Where does my help come from? I was angry at Henry because he wasn't helping me, but really, where does my help come from? Had I asked God to help me? I knew that Henry was not well, but still I was frustrated at his lack of help (mind you he was helping the best he could!). I needed to stop and ask God to help me, He is the only one who could help me, get everyone ready, to be able to help and serve my sick husband and to have a smile on my face through out it all! After a few minutes of pondering all of this waiting on the footpath outside the school, I lifted my eyes to the sky and reflected how the maker of heaven and earth is my Helper. He is the provider of all my help.

I have to admit that there are times when I delude myself into thinking that my life would be easier if my mother was still alive to help me, that if my husband was healthy all the time he could help me more, that if the older women in the church were more available they could help me..... Don't get me wrong, all of these things are wonderful sources of help, but God is my ultimate source of help, and He provides what I need, when I need it. I need to call upon Him first, and He will provide for all that I need.

I have needed to learn the lesson of asking for help over the years, and I am getting better at it, but I also need to learn to ask God first to help me, to allow Him to provide for me, and sometimes He helps by bringing a person into mind whom I can ask to help.

About a month ago, when my husband had the dreaded gastro bug, I had many wonderful people help me. I had called upon the Lord to be my Helper that day, and I saw Him provide for me. I made the decision not to rush out and ask people to help me. My husband needed me and there was a chance I might need to go to hospital with him, so having 3 less children would have been helpful. So I took my daughter to school and a friend offered to take 2 to the park - thank you Lord, I was left with the youngest who needed to go to bed. When I got home another friend called and offered to have 1 all day after the park and would even take him to swimming lessons that night - thank you Lord. I decided to ring a friend and ask her to pick the other 1 up and take her for the afternoon and I would pick her up at school pick up, she was happy to - thank you Lord!

As it turned out, my husband didn't need to go to hospital, he just slept for the rest of the day, and I had the rest of the day to myself, my youngest slept til lunchtime! In fact that was the day I was able to set up this blog!

God is so amazing when we call upon Him for help, He provides abundantly and in ways we don't expect, and all so that we will glorify Him. God wants to help us so we can give Him all the glory!

One of my other favourite verses if from Psalm 50:15

Call upon Me in the day of trouble;
I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me.

And, God helps us even when we don't ask Him, as I was writing this post, I received some very practical help, which is so beyond my comprehension, this was something I had not asked Him for, but He knows my needs way better than I do! Thank you Lord, and thank you to my friend!