Look To Your Father

       A young brother was very bitter and angry that he wasn’t getting what he asked for from his family. He believed they owed him, and they must go out of their way to make sure he was comfortable. His argument was that his late parents were good to them so they needed to show gratitude by helping him out of his predicament. When we talked, I asked him if he had taken the matter to his Father. His earthly ‘fathers’ and those that ought to help him may have failed but his heavenly Father will not. His argument, like most of us, is that God will not come down to help us, He will use people. True! But we forget that He is the One that would command the people to help us. Psalm 104 tells us that without God nothing in creation will get its sustenance, including people. If the Lord closes His hands or hides His face from His creation, they will wither and die. Man at his best is but a man! Meaning his reach is limited, and if not permitted by the Conductor of the Universe to help you, he will not help you! Our help and sustenance is primarily from God. Yes, He would use men, but understand that it MUST originate from God: “A king’s heart is a water channel in the Lord’s hand: He directs it wherever He chooses” (Proverbs 21:1). 

       If we understand this, then our cries for help must be directed at God Almighty, the Creator of the Heavens and the earth and all that lives in it – and He is our Father! A blind man in the Gospels understood this: “…Bartimaeus (the son of Timaeus), a blind beggar, was sitting by the road. When he heard that it was Jesus the Nazarene, he began to cry out, ‘Son of David, Jesus, have mercy on me!’ Many people told him to keep quiet, but he was crying out all the more, ‘Have mercy on me, Son of David’” (Mark 10:46b-48)! Beloved, you have been crying to people for help, how much help have they offered? They have even tried to silence you because your demands have become an offence to them. Sadly, because the people you looked up to have refused to help you, you had gone down paths that you ought not to. 

       So many have become bitter and angry against family members, colleagues, friends, Churches, bosses that they felt should have helped them at one point or the other but failed to. Beloved, your anger and hatred towards these people have turned you into a bitter, envious and an unhappy person. Don’t be deceived, you are in danger of sharing the same ministry with the devil! You have murmured, grumbled and complained about how everyone deserted you, yet your situation had festered. Enough of this stance, it is time to look up! Look away from the people that have ‘failed’ you. Look to Jesus and cry to Him for help! If blind Bartimaeus had minded the people around him, he would not have gotten his miracle. The best he would have gotten were some change that would not solve the issue of his blindness, and missed the miracle only Jesus can give! The more the people around him told him to keep quiet the louder his cry became. 

   Beloved, what situations are you in that have turned you into something unrecognizable? Yet you pray, you fast and you wonder why your fervent prayers are not answered! Is God deaf or uncaring? No He is not! Look to your heart condition to find the fault! You forgot the Word of God that says: “…The intense prayer of the righteous is very powerful” and “The Lord is far from the wicked, but He hears the prayer of the righteous” (James 5:16b and Proverbs 15:29). Like Jabez in 1Chronicles 4:9-10, call out to God from a sincere and pure heart, the Lord will answer you! Beloved, He is still on the Throne and He is the Father and Advocate of the defenseless. Think about this for a minute: In the Savannah, who chases the flies off the cow that has no tail? If God could do that for a cow, how much more you? You are worth much more than all the cows to Him because you carry His image! Look to Him and cry to Him. Remove bitterness, hatred and murmuring from your heart; He had promised to hear you and never leave you. And like it was for Jabez, the Lord Jesus Christ will grant you your request! God bless you!