By Wendy Pope
"I will lift up my eyes to the mountains; from where shall my help come?” Psalm 121:1 (NASB)
Where does your help come from? When crisis strikes, adversity hits, or sorrow shadows you, where do you go for help? How we answer this question truly reflects the depth of our belief that God is watching and waiting to come to our aid. I will be the first to admit that there are times when I struggle to look to the right source for my help.
Recently I have been studying the Psalms. Before I took an in-depth look at Psalm 121, I did not understand what the writer was seeing as he wrote this plea for help. The terrain surrounding him was mountainous. I’ve learned it was common for those walking by to look up in this mountainous landscape and see pagan worshippers worshiping their false gods on the mountaintops. When people had fears or needed a spell to ward off an evil spirit, they went to the mountaintops seeking help from the false gods, and pagan priests or priestesses.
After learning of these practices, I listened to the Psalmist’s cry with a different ear. He knew what help was held in the mountains surrounding him. He looked up and saw many receiving false help from false gods, and he cried out," I will lift up my eyes to the mountains; from where shall my help come?" Can you hear his plea?
Where does your help come from? What false help awaits you on the mountaintop of your horizon? In our day, there may not be a Baal, a sun priest, or a moon priestess on our mountains, but we turn to other sources of false help. Women all over the globe accept false hope from powerful media influences. Whether it is from a magazine purchased in the grocery checkout line, a book from the self-help aisle, or a popular channel on the television, we can see false help.
The next verse from the Psalmist’s pen is a declaration that I challenge us both to make. As women of faith, let's turn off the false help of powerful media influences and declare with the Psalmist, "My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth.” This declaration will no doubt make the enemy of our world angry. He wants to keep our attention focused on the false help we have grown accustomed to receiving. He wants to keep us from the real, authentic, and loving help that comes from trusting the Maker of heaven and earth.
Will you accept the challenge? Instead of choosing a familiar channel on the remote control, take the time you would normally spend watching television and find a quiet place to talk the One who offers real help for the problems you may be facing. Refuse to purchase a new women’s magazine to read while in line or on your lunch hour, or chose a more wholesome one instead like the P31 Woman. Pick up your Bible and read about God's perfect plan for your life, a plan to give you a hope and a future. Real help from a real God awaits you.
Dear Lord, forgive me for seeking false help from this world. I wait to seek You, my true source of help but I am afraid. Help me to overcome the fear and celebrate the future you want for me. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
Related Resources:
Do You Know Jesus?
P31 Woman magazine
Living Free: Experiencing Life as it was Meant to Be - Audio CD by Wendy Pope
Visit Wendy Pope’s blog for more about this topic.
Out of the Mouths of Babes by Wendy Pope
Application Steps:
Sit quietly with God. Allow Him to examine your heart for any false help that waits in your mountaintop. Turn away from media influences and spend more time in God's Word.
Reflections:
Do I believe that God is willing, waiting, and able to help me with my problems?
In what ways do I allow the media to influence me?
Who is the most powerful media influence in my life?
Power Verses:
Psalm 40:13, "Be pleased, O LORD, to save me; O LORD, come quickly to help me." (NIV)
Psalm 54:4, "Surely God is my help; the Lord is the one who sustains me." (NIV)
Psalm 146:5, "Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the LORD his God." (NIV)
"I will lift up my eyes to the mountains; from where shall my help come?” Psalm 121:1 (NASB)
Where does your help come from? When crisis strikes, adversity hits, or sorrow shadows you, where do you go for help? How we answer this question truly reflects the depth of our belief that God is watching and waiting to come to our aid. I will be the first to admit that there are times when I struggle to look to the right source for my help.
Recently I have been studying the Psalms. Before I took an in-depth look at Psalm 121, I did not understand what the writer was seeing as he wrote this plea for help. The terrain surrounding him was mountainous. I’ve learned it was common for those walking by to look up in this mountainous landscape and see pagan worshippers worshiping their false gods on the mountaintops. When people had fears or needed a spell to ward off an evil spirit, they went to the mountaintops seeking help from the false gods, and pagan priests or priestesses.
After learning of these practices, I listened to the Psalmist’s cry with a different ear. He knew what help was held in the mountains surrounding him. He looked up and saw many receiving false help from false gods, and he cried out," I will lift up my eyes to the mountains; from where shall my help come?" Can you hear his plea?
Where does your help come from? What false help awaits you on the mountaintop of your horizon? In our day, there may not be a Baal, a sun priest, or a moon priestess on our mountains, but we turn to other sources of false help. Women all over the globe accept false hope from powerful media influences. Whether it is from a magazine purchased in the grocery checkout line, a book from the self-help aisle, or a popular channel on the television, we can see false help.
The next verse from the Psalmist’s pen is a declaration that I challenge us both to make. As women of faith, let's turn off the false help of powerful media influences and declare with the Psalmist, "My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth.” This declaration will no doubt make the enemy of our world angry. He wants to keep our attention focused on the false help we have grown accustomed to receiving. He wants to keep us from the real, authentic, and loving help that comes from trusting the Maker of heaven and earth.
Will you accept the challenge? Instead of choosing a familiar channel on the remote control, take the time you would normally spend watching television and find a quiet place to talk the One who offers real help for the problems you may be facing. Refuse to purchase a new women’s magazine to read while in line or on your lunch hour, or chose a more wholesome one instead like the P31 Woman. Pick up your Bible and read about God's perfect plan for your life, a plan to give you a hope and a future. Real help from a real God awaits you.
Dear Lord, forgive me for seeking false help from this world. I wait to seek You, my true source of help but I am afraid. Help me to overcome the fear and celebrate the future you want for me. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
Related Resources:
Do You Know Jesus?
P31 Woman magazine
Living Free: Experiencing Life as it was Meant to Be - Audio CD by Wendy Pope
Visit Wendy Pope’s blog for more about this topic.
Out of the Mouths of Babes by Wendy Pope
Application Steps:
Sit quietly with God. Allow Him to examine your heart for any false help that waits in your mountaintop. Turn away from media influences and spend more time in God's Word.
Reflections:
Do I believe that God is willing, waiting, and able to help me with my problems?
In what ways do I allow the media to influence me?
Who is the most powerful media influence in my life?
Power Verses:
Psalm 40:13, "Be pleased, O LORD, to save me; O LORD, come quickly to help me." (NIV)
Psalm 54:4, "Surely God is my help; the Lord is the one who sustains me." (NIV)
Psalm 146:5, "Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the LORD his God." (NIV)
17 Comments:
This devotional couldn't come at a better time with Oprah's new age stuff coming out and all the women who so faithfully watching her show turning to her for help and guidance. Thanks!
Thank you. This is a great reminder that I need to continually look to God for help.
I have been doing better, but still need SO MUCH more help, that I need to keep reminding myself that he is my life line and to continually reach out to him...
Thanks
My goodness - this speaks so much to where I am!! My husband and I keep going round for round over my unwillingness to trust the help of anyone - let alone him... So needed this so praying for this to be more deeply realized in my walk with the Lord!!
Thank you for letting God direct your life, this is just what I needed. May God continue to bless you so that you can bless others.
Thank you, I needed that!
artetchings@hotmail.com
thank you for reminding me how my grandmother touched my life!she was blessed with my company alot when i was 4-5 yrs old as my younger sister had major surgery,and kept mom busy.
she took me to her church and i spent time with alot of her church lady friends.i feel this was a huge impact on my faith
sanfd@dishmail.net
I am responding to today's devotion "A Grandparent's Faith". I so enjoyed this devotion. It reminded me of my own grandparents. I was blessed with 4 grandparents that served the Lord and left lasting impacts on my life. I would like to share about my Grannie Scoggins. Grannie was a true prayer warrior. I always knew that when Grannie went to prayer things would change. As her death approached God begin to deal with me about my own prayer life and I felt as if He were speaking to me that I had to be a part of taking Grannie's place in prayer. I'm so thankful that she showed me how to pray and that I can have a small part in praying for others. She was a truly great woman of God.
Mitzi
Thanks for the beautiful reminder. I too had a grandmother that was full of faith and love. I spent every minute I could in her home. My mom would call after me being there for 3 or 4 nights in a row and demand I come home. I love my Nannie Ina. She was the most beautiful picture of Christ's love to me! She is no longer living. She died after a long bout with Alzheimer. She gave continually to the country church I grew up in as Sunday School teacher, VBS teacher, song leader at times and you name it. Thanks again for the reminder of God's grace on my life in such a beautiful person, my Nannie. Pam
Thank you for the guidance and reminders you leave with us. " A Grandparents Faith" reminds me that as I raise two of my grandchildren ( ages 10 mths and 4 years) I am expected and willing to teach them to not only know God, but to love him with all their hearts. It is so wonderful to say prayers with my little grandson at night before bed and to hear him tell me that he loves Jesus. God help me to continue to bring them up in the way they should go according to God's will.
I'm grateful for the influence my parents have on my children. My children are not seeing unconditional love from one of their parents, so I'm glad they have grandparents for a great example of unconditional love and a godly marriage.
What a wonderful Godly heritage has been passed down to me from my grandparents. They were all Christians and served God faithfully. On my Dad's side, my grandmother set a wonderful example of faith to her family as even on her death bed (in her hospital room) she watched and anticipated the angels coming to take her to Heaven. On my Mom's side, my grandparents, in addition to their church attendance; ministered at the nursing home, and also distributed gospel tracts on the street coners.
This Godly legacy continued in my own parents (grandparents to my own children) as my father pastored the same church for 55 years, and was in the gospel ministry full time for in excess of 60 years.
As a grandmother now myself, I pray daily for my grandchildren. I realize what an important influence I also have in their lives. I have prayed for God to save them and use them in His service, and for their lives to be yielded to Him; and then, in turn, for the Godly family influence to continue for generations.
Biblical teachable moments come daily and we must always be aware of those times with our precious grandchildren.
Thank you for sharing this part of your lives with us. I am so very grateful for my grandmothers! Both of my grandmothers lived their strong faith in God before us grands. Their quiet humility, love, respect for others and steadfastness in the face of adversity and tragedy encourage me still through the years. They were both true examples of Christ on this earth. One grandmother saw her daughter through an abusive marriage that lasted 15 years before she was able to get out. I am ever so grateful that this is not my situation (I have an awesome husband!), and I pray that I will be such an example to my children.
Thank you so much for today's devotion. I have recently lost 3 grandparents in 5 years. My most recent was June of last year when my "Granny". She was my "PRAYER WARRIOR and my strength."
On May 6th I will have open heart surgery to replace my aortic valve and aortic root. Facing this without my Granny seemed impossible. Over the past month since I found out about the surgery I have come to realize that she isn't gone, I still have her prayers with me and now she has just moved to Heaven so that she can watch over me!
Thank you again and thank you Proverbs 31 Ministries.
May God continue to shower his blessings on you and your ministry.
God Bless,
Lu Anne
simpson_luanne@yahoo.com
I am posting regarding the Grandmother's Bible.
I wish that I could say that I had a wonderful grandmother for a role model. My mother's mom was much older, as she had my mother at the age of 40, but I did know her and she was still living when I became pregnant for my first child. She didn't make a huge impact on me in a spiritual sense, but she could crochet anything. Just show her any crocheted item and she could recreate it on the spot. It was amazing. I remember her crocheting booties for my dolls. All we had to do was bring her the doll and she'd have booties made up in jiffy.
My father's mother is another story. She remained married to my grandfather until his death two years ago, but I never remember the two of them sharing a bedroom together. I saw a lot of bitterness and distaste between them, but unfortunatley mostly grandma. She is the only grandparent that I have who is still living, and I do pray to see her shed the bitterness in her heart. All of my grandparents claimed to be followers and believers in Jesus, and for that I am very thankful.
My deep desire it to live a life that will be a godly example to my grandchildren and to break the chain of bitterness that I've seen. Satan works overtime on my marriage and I certainly do not want to see him win. God is my protection and conqueror of Satan and his tactics. I am so thankful to have a personal relationship with Jesus, He is the only way to freedom from bitterness and anger in my life and marriage.
michelle.hyzer@charter.net
Oh how we need God's help. I pray His blessing and protection on us all
Tiff
This was truly a blessing to me and of course will be to my grandchildren. I have two grandchildren that I take with me to church and I pray that they will remember always and live in the ways of the Lord!
emilylemos@yahoo.com
I do not have grandparents living. I have helped raise my neices and nephews as I have lost 2 Brothers. My Mother amd Father have passed away also. I have tried to let My light shine to my Brother and Sister, and their children.I am a willing vessel most of the time. My husband is a strong support for me. I have recently joined a Proverbs 31 study group. It is awesome.
Thanks
tristye2000@yahoo.com
Lower Alabama
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