How to get help from God immediately

Oh, then, let us come boldly to the throne of grace! That throne is the third of the great helps which our chapter mentions. It is a "throne of grace" because graced by our great High Priest being seated there. Thence is dispensed mercy and grace for seasonable or opportune help, only we must come to the throne in order that we may get it.

Grace for the way is needed. Mercy too in our feebleness is required. For both are we to approach the throne, but for us a throne of grace, and not a throne of judgment. No fear is there of denial, no fear of judgment to hinder us, conscious though we are that as sinners we deserved it. We are to draw nigh with boldness to receive mercy, and to find grace to help in time of need (4:16). To receive. Let us pause for a moment. We are not told even to ask. We are told to come to receive and to find. Why such language? Why this direction? Because our High Priest has asked already for us, and has obtained all the grace and the mercy that we need. It is there already for us. Had we first to ask, we might reasonably think that we must wait for the answer. We are to go to receive what we need, and all that we need, and as often as we need. Our God delights to provide. Our High Priest is ever ready to intercede. And we are to understand that the needed grace and mercy are awaiting us. Poor must be human language to convey to others the sense of such grace on the part of the High Priest. Of His sacrifice once for all many have heard, and rest on it. How many really understand that He is ever, as it were, on the watch, to ask on behalf of His suffering, feeble saints the grace, the help they sorely need? What must His saints be to Him and to God!

Who could estimate the marvels that have been wrought on earth by the urgent cry expressed in those three words, "LORD, HELP ME." They have been the link between victorious power and despairing weakness times without number, and will be so again.

Mark well this fact, for it will be a help to us in our exercises as we proceed with our subject. We learn from it, as from many other incidents in the Word, that the thoughts of God's saints never turn to Him in vain; no matter what their circumstances, or the cause of them, He is ready to answer even while they call: “They cry unto the LORD in their trouble, and He bringeth them out of their distresses.” How great are the compassions of our God!

As one cast into a pit and left to die, the remnant call upon Jehovah "out of the low dungeon," and faith can say, "Thou hast heard my voice," and "Thou drewest near in the day that I called upon Thee: Thou saidst, Fear not" (v.57). How comforting this is! God is quick to respond to the first cry of a troubled soul when there is integrity of heart before Him.

The Psalm begins well. The word GOD is the first articulate syllable that breaks the silence. No wonder that with such a start we should immediately find such words as “our Refuge and Strength, a very present help in trouble”—a strong Tower to run to for safety, an unlimited power to still the heart in the face of fearful perils, and that just when needed, “a very present help in trouble.”

(V. 1). We do well to notice the little word "our" in the opening verse. It is true that God is a refuge; but believers can say, "God is our refuge." The world has those to whom it looks for protection, and guidance, in the time of trouble. Believers have in God their refuge from the storms and distresses of life. Moreover, God is our "strength" in weakness, and "a very present help in trouble." The better and more exact translation is, "a help in distresses very readily found."

To realise, however, that God is "a very present help," calls for the exercise of faith, for His present help is not always immediately apparent. Sometimes we have to wait for the manifestation of His present help. Our natural tendency is to endeavour to extricate ourselves from trouble by our own efforts, and God may, for our blessing, keep us waiting until we have learnt that we are utterly without strength to meet the trial, and there is nothing left for us but to "be still" and learn that God is God.

"God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble." A refuge is a place to flee to from impending and known danger. A sinner's fleeing for refuge to Christ implies a sense of imminent danger: He is everlasting security from impending judgment; He is the true city of refuge from the avenger of blood (Num. 35:13, etc.). He is also the strength of His people in their conscious weakness. He does not always deliver us out of our troubles, but sustains us in them, and carries us through them, which is far better, and enables us to say in our feeble measure, "Even so Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight" (Matt. 11:26). Mary and Martha could never have known the present sympathy and resurrection power of the Lord Jesus Christ if they had not experienced the death of their brother. It was when sickness, death, the grave, and corruption, had each done its worst and seemed to have robbed them for ever of their beloved one, that the Lord stepped in, and showed them Himself as they had never before known Him. The sisters had sought the Lord in their trouble, and such is always its effect where there is real faith. Blessings tend, because of what we are, to elate us; and we run off with them to enjoy them, and forget God. Trouble brings us to our knees. It is good when our blessings also have this effect. See the beautiful example of this in Gideon (Judges 7:15). He did not rush off elated to tell the hosts of Israel the cheering tidings he had heard, but first worshipped, ere returning to the host. God was a very present help to him in his trouble; and such was the effect. But the Psalmist goes on to say "Therefore will not we fear though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea" etc.

Two truths of great practical importance, for believers of every dispensation, are brought before us in this beautiful Psalm. In the presence of the upheavals and conflicts of a godless world, we are reminded, first, that God is "a very present help in trouble." Secondly, in order to realise, and obtain, the present help of God, our part is to "be still" and know that God is God (Verses 1 and 10). Only faith can enter into these truths. Flesh can lean upon an arm of flesh; but flesh can neither trust in God, nor "be still" and wait for God to act. Verse 1 presents the great theme of the Psalm — God, our refuge, strength, and present help in trouble. Verses 2 and 3 the trouble and confusion of the world through which we are passing. Verses 4 to 11, the means whereby God sustains the faith of His people so that they are enabled to "be still" and prove God to be "a very present help."

The Christian is entitled to look up to God as a continual daily habit for help and for protection. Countless dangers surround and threaten us, but there is ever a Faithful and Omnipotent Guardian to whom we may confidently appeal before as well as in the hour of peril.