Thoughts on the Call for Help

Thoughts on the Call for Help

Psalm 91:2

Failure

The fact that we fail is something that we must come to know early in our lives (or rather, it is forced on us early in our arrogance and ignorance). We all know that we will, at some point in our lives, fail at something. After all, one failure brings on the tendency for more, and we have all failed in the regard of reaching the mark; being free from sin (as we are all born sinners [Rom. 5:12]). Oddly enough, we still expect to succeed every time we attempt to achieve some goal of ours, and if we fail (which we often do), we feel surprised and angry. And we have a misconception of true success. Often times, when we succeed at doing something, we have actually failed, such as when a child is told not to take any more candy, but succeeds in obtaining more. Or when we have succeeded in vacuuming a room, and then the owner tells you that you have done the wrong room. Thus, failure can be a result of direct disobedience or ignorance of the right goal. Thus, if we realize this, we can see that the possibility of failure is far greater than anything we could outmatch. So failure is something we must come face to face with throughout our lives, and we must never think that we can be free from it while we are on this earth.

Failure also brings with it a feeling of discouragement; we ourselves feel like failures, and this often leads to one becoming a quitter. But how do we find contentment in a world of failure? A world where it is impossible to avoid?

But I ask, how do we know failure? Failure can only be known if there is something to compare it with, thus we also know success. But how do we define success? Most people consider success to be wealth. Others consider it to be a large number of friends. But even if you had wealth, or many friends (or both), would you truly feel happy? No. Look at Hollywood. The prime example of people who have everything (according to the world) yet have nothing. They can have anything that they want, yet after it is obtained, and maybe a few moments of joy are had, they want more. One would be inclined to wonder is something is wrong with the world. And something is wrong. We are not fulfilling our true purpose.

And we, as Believers, are the richest people in the universe, yet we too despair at times (something of which we must constantly refrain from doing).

That is where we come into the battle between Unbelievers and Believers of God’s word.

Without Christ, we can never truly be free from failure. We will never be content, nor will we truly be happy. And, without the fulfillment of our true purpose (to serve God), we will never be satisfied with any work that we will ever do. Good works without the right motive are useless.

With Christ, however, we will one day be free from failure. And we rest in One who did not fail, and took our failure to God (sin) on Himself.

Instinct

There is something that does come with failure, both with Believers and Unbelievers, and that is the call for help. We have it built in us to know when we will fail at some task. Some are so arrogant as to say that nothing can scare them, but their imagination is far too limited, and their picture of fear is limited to earthly things. We fear failure. And when we see it coming, we naturally call out for help. But who must call to help?

For Unbelievers, there is a fear that is there that tortures them. The feeling of powerlessness. It is often realized when they are outmatched by something greater, and they have nowhere to run in their “hard drive” of reason. They placed too much trust in their failure-prone nature, and when failure comes, it strikes in them a strong fear of death. And when this is realized, they run to whatever they can think of, from their earthly comforts to earthly gods, thinking that in some way these things will bring joy and remove the fear. But alas, none of these things save them from fear.

Although the world is full of sin, and it may often seem at times that God is not known in the world, there is still knowledge of Him. This knowledge is often distorted into false gods, but nonetheless, there is a knowledge that we are not the ones in control. After all, God is seen throughout creation (Ps. 19:1), and it is impossible to miss seeing that all of that which is around was not made by us (trees, mountains, etc).

So, the realization that we are prone to failure, the realization that we have a fear of it, and the realization that we have very little power, all lead us to God. Some don’t live long enough to reach this point, but eventually we must come to this reality. And, when that is realized, and when the fearful things come around, we naturally call out for help, but to God. That then leads me to Believers.

Should we still call out for help?

It is no surprise that even Believers fail (while on earth). It is something that is still present in us (sin), and is still a battle between us and the old man (whom I often picture as an old man with tattered clothes and a long white ragged beard, but I will not expound on this). We still feel the pain of failure, as all mankind does, and the pain grows as we fail more often. However, it is how we then deal with it that makes the difference.

As I mentioned earlier, it is natural for us to call out for help when we are in distress. And, when we come to the truth, it becomes natural for us to call out to God. But is this the right response? The answer is yes and no. Yes, as He is the only One that can save us from temptation, fear and death. No, in the matter of the fact that we have already been saved. We are not like the Catholics, Mormons, or any other worldly religion that pursues Salvation through good works. We know that Christ paid it all on the Cross, and we are now free from sin. We are no longer sinners (Rom. 7:17), thus it is only ignorance that causes one that is saved to long for salvation. We no longer yell out to God, “Save me!”, because we have been saved from the worst possible threat (sin), and that should instill in us a fearlessness of the world. “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me” (Ps. 23:4, NASB).

Am I saying that we should never call out to God when we are fearful? No, of course not. It is our flawed perspective, however, that leads us to the fear of darkness. Thus, the reality of fear must be taken at a different angle. We are commanded to worship God, and one of the ways to do so is to fear Him (Ps. 96:9). This is a fear of the knowledge of His power, and should ultimately drive us closer to Him, because He spared us from the judgment we deserve.

We must not cower in fear from darkness (evil), but should instead retreat to the Solid Rock that is God and His word, fear Him, and then we can say, “I fear no evil.”

 

The Reality

Strangely, it is human nature to avoid this. When mankind is in fear, he still manages to avoid the truth, or deny it. He wants a way that is free from fear and uncertainty, finds it, and then runs from it, because it fears death, but not the death to his body, but the death to himself. Sin runs from the truth, and it is only God that can bring us to Himself. In and of ourselves, we will never be free from failure and fear. He is the only One that can save us from the fear that is built into us, and unless we follow Christ, deny ourselves and live according to His word (all three being one), we will never be saved, no matter how many times we yell out “Save me!”