Asking for Help

May 26

Today, as the Underground, we come together in prayer and fasting, collectively joining our hearts in a “laser-focused” way.

Today’s theme: Asking for Help

God has given us more than we can ask or imagine. Throughout scripture, we see God’s generosity. He is not only aware of our needs, but over and over again we see Him step in and provide for His kids.

Somewhere along the way, many of us have told ourselves that God is tired of hearing our problems. We’ve internalized sayings like “God’s not a genie in a bottle” or “Why do you only go to God when you need something?”

While this may be the way humanity operates, it is far from the heart of God. In one chapter of scripture alone, Jesus shows us his heart for those in need.

Matthew 9:1-2

Jesus stepped into a boat, crossed over and came to his own town. Some men brought to him a paralyzed man, lying on a mat. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the man, “Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven.”

The chapter starts with a group of men asking Jesus to help their friend, and Jesus rewarding their faith. God delights in the faith of his people.

Matthew 9:9-13

As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him. While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples. 11 When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

When the Pharisees see Jesus helping “tax collectors and sinners” Jesus’ response is poignant. “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.”

In the same way we go to the doctor when we need help to get healthy, God asks us to go to Him for help when we need him.

Matthew 9:20-22

Just then a woman who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak. 21 She said to herself, “If I only touch his cloak, I will be healed.” Jesus turned and saw her. “Take heart, daughter,” he said, “your faith has healed you.” And the woman was healed at that moment.

Later in this same chapter, Jesus is busy on his way to raise a man’s daughter from the dead. This would be as inconvenient a time as ever to ask Jesus for help.

Even in the busiest of times, Jesus stopped and helped the woman in desperate need of him. Once again, God delights in our faith.

Matthew 9:27-31

As Jesus went on from there, two blind men followed him, calling out, “Have mercy on us, Son of David!” When he had gone indoors, the blind men came to him, and he asked them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” “Yes, Lord,” they replied. Then he touched their eyes and said, “According to your faith let it be done to you”; and their sight was restored. Jesus warned them sternly, “See that no one knows about this.” But they went out and spread the news about him all over that region.

In the very next story, Jesus is once again approached by a desperate need for help. Once again, Jesus rewards their faith and helps his people. He doesn’t scold them for their neediness, but rather is delighted in their faith and their ask for help.

Matthew 9:35-38

Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”

Finally, as the chapter ends, Jesus shows us one more example of God’s desire for our ask. Overwhelmed by the great needs of his people, and the lack of workers, Jesus gives them one directive: Ask God to send help.

Across all of scripture, God answers our calls for help. He is never tired of our neediness, he delights in our faith.

As you read these stories, spend some time with the Father and reflect on these questions:

When you think of asking God for help, what emotions come to the surface? What do you feel? Take a moment and write those feelings down.
After reading these stories, how do you think God will respond to your ask for help? What does He say?
Where do you need God’s help in your life? Take some time to ask the Father for help.

Psalm 121

A song of ascents.

I lift up my eyes to the mountains—

where does my help come from?

My help comes from the Lord,

the Maker of heaven and earth.

He will not let your foot slip—

he who watches over you will not slumber;

indeed, he who watches over Israel

will neither slumber nor sleep.

The Lord watches over you—

the Lord is your shade at your right hand;