“Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me; O Lord, make haste to help me!” (Psalm 40:13). We are in a proper state of mind when we humbly acknowledge our complete dependence upon God. Our need of His help is ever-present, for we are subject to a multitude of forces beyond our control. We live in a fallen world in which the best intentions, the most diligent planning, the greatest skill, and the most honorable conduct are often in vain. We are exposed to diseases without number, violent forces of nature, the sinful actions of humanity, and attacks from spiritual hosts of wickedness. Our bodies are subject to thirst, hunger, exposure, pain, sickness, malfunction, and death. Our spirits are subject to fear, discouragement, disappointment, temptation, and sorrow. If this were not enough, we are often faced with our own imperfections, and we often fall prey to the consequences of our own actions. Indeed, “man is born to trouble, as the sparks fly upward” (Job 5:7), and a close examination of life reveals that there is not a single moment in which we are not totally dependent upon God for His help.

Our need of His help is absolute. He is the God from whom all blessings flow. He is the source of every provision in life. He is the creator and sustainer of everything that exists. His mediation of every provision is accomplished through His Son, by whose power everything is held together. “For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together” (Col 1:16-17). If He holds all things together, is there any moment in which we do not need the exercise of His power? Is there any provision that can come apart from His benevolence? Any blessing that can come apart from His grace? It is He who upholds all things by the word of His power (Heb 1:3), and there is no time in which we do not depend upon His help. Our every effort falls at the mercy of His will, and as He has said, “Apart from Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5).

Our feeling of our need is relative. There are times of ease, when the circumstances of life seem favorable, when even those who acknowledge the principle of need for God’s help feel it little. There are other times of trial, affliction, or persecution when we cry with David, “Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me; O Lord, make haste to help me!” Is this to mean that we need His help more in trial than in ease? Not absolutely so, for our total dependence upon God applies to all times and circumstances of life, whether good or evil. But relatively it is so, for there are peculiar times in life in which we have great need of the special and unusual intervention of God. In such times, our need for God’s help is more urgently felt, and it is only by a special measure of His grace that we find deliverance. Such was this time for David. His own iniquity had overwhelmed him, and the oppression of evildoers had surrounded him.

It is often the case that God’s people find themselves in deep need. Felt needs are good, for they enhance our sensitivities and awaken our senses so that we thirst for God. They draw us closer to Him in prayer, with deeper fervency and greater humility. They wean us from our dependence upon self and our reliance upon man. Were we to never deeply feel our need of God, it is likely that we would rarely seek Him. But as it is, He ordains the circumstances of life so that we should never live in this world without feeling the need for His grace, and we will always acknowledge in heart what we know in principle—that we greatly need the God who made us. “And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their pre-appointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us” (Acts 17:26-27).

But it is not enough to know of our need for God’s help; we must request it of Him. If we believe a physician to have a cure for an infirmity, will we not seek him for it? If we know that a friend has a loaf of bread to supply an urgent need, will we not knock and ask him for it? How much more, then, should we go to the God who supplies all things? Throughout time, God’s people have called upon Him for help, and it is good and right for them to do so. When they call upon Him, He surely hears and tells them, “Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you. Yes, I will help you. I will uphold you with My righteous right hand” (Isaiah 41:10). Though He may bear long with them, He cannot refuse to help His people who cry to Him from the heart. They can always plead His mercy: “Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their masters, as the eyes of a maid to the hand of her mistress, so our eyes look to the Lord our God, until He has mercy on us. Have mercy on us, O Lord, have mercy on us!” (Psalm 123:2-3). When He gives them help, it may not be what they expect, but it will be sufficient for their needs. “Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!” (Matt 7:9-11). “For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Heb 4:15-16).

Our greatest need of help is in salvation. We have no ability to deliver ourselves from the guilt and power of sin. Our only hope is found in Christ, the One who came not to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many (Mark 10:45). He came to accomplish the work of salvation, a work that we could not do: “For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly” (Rom 5:6). He helps our guilt by cleansing us from all sin (1 John 1:9), and He delivers us from enslavement by making us free indeed (John 8:36). It is the message of the gospel by which this salvation is proclaimed. “It is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes” (Rom 1:16). And just as God is merciful in helping His people, so He is also merciful to any who will seek Him for salvation. He will graciously adopt them into the family of God and give them eternal life.