A God On Whom We Can Rely

“Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord his God, the Maker of heaven and earth, the sea and everything in them – the Lord, who remains faithful forever. Great is our Lord and mighty in power; his understanding has no limit.” Psalm 146:5 & 6, 147:5

Reading my last few posts from over a year ago (!), I’m reminded of that time. A time when I was so overwhelmed for so long that it finally culminated in health issues as well as mental and emotional strain. I realize now that my posts and all my prayers of that time were actually cries for God to help me. And He did! That season was followed by a time of such deep rest and soul repair that I can only praise God for the work He has done in my life! He recently led me to these verses. I was actually looking for a verse to use for a new experiment I’m going to try. I plan to memorize these verses and recite them every morning, hopefully before I even get out of bed. I want something to focus my attention on God, not me or my schedule or my plans or problems. But on Him and who He is.

Why did God lead me to these verses? I have a feeling I’m going to find the answer to that as time goes on. But the question makes me want to take a deeper look at them. The very beginning tells us that we will have problems. Notice it doesn’t say “if” we need help. Oh, we need help all right! And we’re blessed indeed when we rely on God to help us. Not the world, not other people, and not ourselves. All of those things will let us down. Especially ourselves. Not only will we let ourselves down, we will cause real problems for ourselves and for those who love us when we rely too heavily on just us.

Not only is God our help. He’s also our hope. This word is not talking about wishful thinking. It’s not “I hope I have a good day today.” Or “I hope I get to go to Hawaii.” Rather, this kind of hope is a sure thing. When it says our hope is in God, it means that we can rely fully and completely on Him to bring about what He has promised. Did you know that God always keeps His promises? Not sometimes and not half-way. Always. We can rely on that. We can and should put our hope in Him and Him alone. When we put our hope in someone or something else, it truly is wishful thinking. But when our Hope is in God, that’s when it becomes a hope we can lean on.

What do these verses say about God Himself? First, He’s the creator of everything. Did you ever stop to think that not one of us is able to create? We can be creative with elements that already exist. But not one of us can create something out of nothing. Only an amazing God can do that. And just look at what He created! From the diversity of the animal and plant worlds to the complexity of the universe and our bodies, His creation is beyond comprehension. What does that say about the Creator?

Not only is He beyond comprehension, He is mighty and powerful. It takes a lot of power to create that much and keep it operating in exact precision. How many humans do you know of who have power and use it only for their own good? I’m so thankful our God isn’t like that! His power is so much greater than the most powerful human who ever lived, and yet He uses it only for our good. Only He knows completely what is best for us because only He understands us fully. He understands us, the world, our past and even our future. He understands it all. Our understanding is so miniscule compared to His! And yet He loves us unconditionally! What an amazing God and so worth of our praise!