Nothing Wrong with Asking

I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade on your right hand. ... Psalm 121: 1- 5

I was at work and decided to step out for a moment. As I stepped out on the main floor, a young boy came out of the other office holding two soda cups in his hands and as we were about to pass each other he quickly asked, “can you open the door please?” “Sure.” I responded and held it open as he quickly passed through and said thanks.

In that moment, I thought about what I would have done in the situation and the truth is since the door pushes out, I would have probably pushed my back to the door to open it myself. And then I paused, why though? If there was someone to assist me, why would I push myself to show I was capable of opening the door when, as the little boy who up until that point had never seen or met me before didn’t hesitate to ask for the assistance once he knew it was there.

Then I thought about how many times God was probably just standing there waiting for me to just ask for the assist and I decided to show how capable I was of doing it all on my own.

I like to know that something planned is getting done even if I have to do it myself. Over time, I’ve had to do so many things by myself that asking for help seemed strange. However, in the long run, I would start to feel overwhelmed. I had to remind myself that the work I was doing would probably be done more efficiently and better if there were more hands to make the work light. Does asking God for assistance when you know you can manage seem strange to you? Have you been so disappointed by others around you that you don’t want to be dependent on anyone?

Many times, I have had to remind myself that even though I’m capable, even though someone has disappointed me, there is nothing wrong with asking for help. The meaning of the word help is to do something that makes it easier for someone to do a job, to deal with a problem, to aid or assist someone or to make something less severe : to make something more pleasant or easier to deal with.

Psalm 121 speaks to the fact that Our Help (ezer) comes from God, the maker of heaven and earth. Let that sink in for a moment.

The God who spoke and the world was created has told us that He is OUR HELP, that we can rely on Him to be present when we need Him. The definition of help implies that God wants to ease some of our burdens that he wants to make some of the problems in our life a bit more manageable or to make this journey we are on a bit more pleasant and easier to deal with.

The scripture says that He will not allow us to stumble. He is so focused on us that He will help us the moment it looks like we are about to fall. The passage also goes on to shift Him from not only being our help but to stress that He’s got our back and does not sleep as He is looking after us.

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. Matthew 7:7

As an adult, I’ve found one of the most difficult things to do is to ask for help maybe because society has given us this "fend for yourself" mentality. But God is inviting us to ask because His plans for us are good and He is the giver of good and perfect gifts. His plan is never to leave us alone. If we take a moment to stop trying to figure it out ourselves and look around and seek him, we will find that he is right there waiting to stretch out His hand and open the door for us to walk through a little easier.