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20 Help, hope and happiness

Encouragement for difficult days (20):

HELP, HOPE AND HAPPINESS

“Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the LORD his God:”

Psalm 146:5

 This verse is like those charts on the back of cereal boxes that lists the minimum daily requirements for health. Here we have the minimum daily requirements for spiritual health – help, hope, and happiness..

 1.       Help

No matter how capable and efficient you and I may be, there comes times when we need help. I am not mechanically clever, so I depend on help when something is wrong with my car. Although I work in a hospital, there are still times when I have to go to the doctor or even the hospital. You and I depend on the help of others all day long – the people who manage the telephone circuits, the workers who keep the busses and trains operating, the people who prints the newspapers.

But there in One who’s help is far above all, and that One is the God of Jacob. God can do for us what nobody else can do. Psalm 46:1 tells us that “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.” The psalmist said, “My help cometh from the LORD, which made heaven and earth.” (Psalm 121:2).

You and I trust people, yet people fail us; and we sometimes fail others. But when we put our trust in the Lord, He gives the kind of help that never fails. Here is a Word of encouragement to us today: “The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.” (Hebrews 13:6). Cast your burden on the Lord, and by faith receive the help He alone can give.

2.       Hope

Sad to say, there are multitudes of people who have no hope. They have nothing to live for, nothing to look forward to. Lots of people want to end it all. I meet many of them at the psychiatric hospital where I work. Life has become unbearable to them, and they would rather die than live.

When you know Jesus Christ, you always have hope! To the Christian, hope is not a mirage or a blind optimism. Our hope in Christ is a certainty. In Hebrews 6:19 we read “Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil;” It is our hope in Christ that is the anchor, and this anchor will never slip nor fail. The Christian “rejoices in hope” because he knows the future is secure in Christ.

Our hope in Christ is based on the Word of God, the Bible. Because we trust His promises, we experience His hope. No matter how dark the day may become, we still have the light of His Word to encourage us. A ship without a compass is lost, so is a life without hope too. The Word of God is the light that encourages us and the compass that guides us.

3.       Happiness

What is happiness? We have many clever and shallow definitions of happiness these days. But to the mature person, happiness is much deeper than what these juvenile definitions describe. Happiness is that wonderful feeling of well-being that comes when we are depending on God’s help and living in God’s will. If we are depending on our own help, ultimately we fail; and if we are living for our own will, we can never really be happy.

Happiness is a by.product. If you look for happiness, you will never find it; but if you determine to trust Christ and obey Him, then happiness will come your way! You can’t purchase happiness or store it away. As a matter of fact, some of the most miserable people I know are depending on their accumulated wealth. Happiness is never found in things. Nor is it found in thrills, because thrills don’t last.

Do you know Christ? Read that top verse again. Do you need help? Do you need hope? Do you want to experience happiness?  God has given us all of the above. Trust in Him! Go to Him! If you put your trust in Him, you will experience happiness ass a by-product of that trust….