THE PRESENT HELP
Memorise: God is our refuge and strength, a very present
help in trouble. Psalms 46:1b
Read: 1st Kings 17:12-16, (KJV)
12 And she said, As the Lord
thy God liveth, I have not a cake, but an handful of meal in a barrel, and a
little oil in a cruse: and, behold, I am gathering two sticks, that I may go in
and dress it for me and my son, that we may eat it, and die.
13 And Elijah said unto her, Fear not; go and do as thou
hast said: but make me thereof a little cake first, and bring it unto me, and
after make for thee and for thy son.
14 For thus saith the Lord God of Israel, The barrel of meal
shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail, until the day that the
Lord sendeth rain upon the earth.
15 And she went and
did according to the saying of Elijah: and she, and he, and her house, did eat
many days.
16 And the barrel of meal wasted not, neither did the cruse
of oil fail, according to the word of the Lord, which he spake by Elijah.
Bible in one year: Acts 16:16-18:17, Song of Solomon 4:9-5:1
MESSAGE
Bible writers under the influence of the Holy Ghost wittily
qualified or limited significant nouns common to human experiences. For
example, in Psalm 103:4 when the Psalmist decided to qualify the kindness and
mercies of God upon his life he wrote:
“Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee
with loving-kindness and tender mercies.”
In other words, the kindness he received from God was not
ordinary but the loving type. Also, the mercies were not the harsh type but the
tender ones. My prayer for you is that this will be your own experience too in
Jesus’ name.
In our memory verse for today, we read about an attribute of
God that is noteworthy for our advantage; “The very present help in trouble.”
Going by this testimony of the Psalmist, God is help personified, and He is
never a belated help; He is always on time. But for this attribute of God, the
widow of Zarephath in today’s reading would have eaten up her last meal before
the messenger of the God of multiplication arrived.
“And she said, as the Lord thy God liveth, I have not a
cake, but an handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a curse: and,
behold, I am gathering two sticks, that I may go in and dress it for me and my
son, that we may eat it, and die.”
1st Kings 17:12
As I always tell my congregation in the Redeemed Christian
Church of God, I strongly believe that the woman was saying that she was going
to prepare the last meal, eat it with her household and then commit suicide but
help came for just on time. However, before the Present Help can come to your
aid, you need to have the same spiritual conviction of the widow in our Bible
reading for today. One of the virtues of this widow is that she believed in the
God of Prophet Elijah. Another thing about this widow is that she believed that
the God of Elijah was alive. This helped her to respond positively to the
instruction of the prophet by going ahead to do what the prophet said, and
there came the miracle of multiplication. The Bible says in 2nd Chronicles
20:20
“Believe in the Lord your God, so shall ye be established;
believe his prophets, so shall ye prosper.”
Beloved, if you believe in God as your Present Help, it will
show in your way of life. For example, you will not live in doubt of His
promises and so you will respond in faith to his directives. You will not cut
corners in order to achieve your desires, because you know that the Present
Help shall always be there for you. This woman in our Bible reading had faith
in the God of Israel and this she showed by according respect to the man of
God. Do you have regard for God? It will show in how you regard you pastor and
his words. May the Present Help be there for us always in Jesus’ name.
Prayer Point
O, Present Help, please help me today to solve all my problems.
Open Heavens Daily, written by Pastor E.A Adeboye
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