Where Does My Help Come From?

In recent days, I have been probed and pricked by nurses and doctors. They are looking for something gone wrong. Over the past six years I have wrestled with fatigue and discomfort in my lower abdomen. Finally, after a few scary episodes, I’ve managed to get to the right doctor.

I’m being told, although not all of the tests are complete, that I have some over-activity in my spleen and surrounding organs. Doctor’s believe that this is a sure-case of liver disease.

The liver is responsible for filtering the blood, making bile (a substance that helps digest), helping the body transport energy, making proteins, storing iron and other vitamins, helping break down and recycle red blood cells. It is an important part of the body. If it is not functioning right, these things lack and so does the rest of the body.

For the past six years, my liver has been deteriorating and its responsibilities have suffered. It wasn’t obvious to me, but the signs were there. I’m 32 and not an alcoholic drinker. So, I chalked it up as one of those things we do when we get old. Apparently, not.

The news has moved us and our friends to deep prayer. My wife is taking the most of it. She sometimes considers the worst things first. This is true today. I am hoping that she and myself are reminded each day of Psalm 121. The doctors are here to help. The family is here to comfort. The friends are here to assist. But our help comes from the Lord.

The journey to Jerusalem was through the surrounding hills. The Jews went there to worship the Lord. “I lift up my eyes to the hills,” says the writer. “From where does my help come?” (Ps. 121:1).

God is the maker of the heavens and the earth. He is mighty and powerful. He knows of our suffering and never sleeps. Nothing happens to us without His knowing and without His sovereign hand. He keeps us from evil. He is our help. He is our Lord. And He is capable.

As Hebrews says, “Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (Heb. 11:1). We will trust in the Lord for our future. We do not make it for He already has. We are journeying to Jerusalem and He is keeping us along the way. One day, we will reach our destination. And until then, we will trust Him.

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.
The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night.
The Lord will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life.
The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore.

Psalm 121