Helping the helpless?

'Arise, O Lord ! Punish the wicked,
O God! Do not ignore the helpless!' Psalms 10:12 https://my.bible.com/bible/116/PSA.10.12



I am studying the Psalms as a part of my continuing study of David. Although he did not write all of them, he did write most of them and thought this would be a great conclusion to my study. I was struck by the words in chapter 10 verse 12. The writer asked for God to NOT ignore the HELPLESS.  I wrote a note in my Bible

"Who are the helpless?"

You may not agree, but all people that are struggling in this life are NOT helpless. All those that are homeless, unemployed, and "down and out" are NOT helpless. BUT,

How can we tell?

I am so guilty of judging who is and who is not helpless. I really believe in the power that YOU are responsible for your circumstances. You are the one who can pull yourself OUT OF YOUR STRUGGLES.  I strongly believe the government can not bail you out.  Churches can not bail you out and charities can not bail you out. These organizations have a wonderfully positive impact as "stop gaps" when someone is going through tough times. They can also create a great amount of dependence and are often treated as a LONG TERM solution. It may be heartless to say our poor and hungry should not be cared for by the state.  Short term care is wonderful and so necessary. It should NOT be the final solution.

Christians NEED to help the helpless. They need to support those that have given up all hope. BUT, our responsibility is NOT to provide hope in humanity. Our lives need to be dedicated to guiding them to the only place of REAL hope.  Our REAL purpose is to direct people to JESUS, his mercy, his grace, and his love. Yes, we can provide for immediate needs, but we can not stop there. The government does exactly that, they might provide the material necessities for a time. In many instances they do a wonderful job providing for needs. The dare not good at giving real hope. THAT IS OUR JOB as followers of Christ.

We are not to judge who is and who is not helpless. We are to serve them regardless. We are to help those that need help. We are to give of ourselves and our resources to love others. We need to give of our huge homes, our six figure salaries, and our wasted leisure time. But, more important than giving those things is giving HOPE THROUGH JESUS. We need to make sure we are completely focused on getting people to rely on the Lord. HE WILL PROVIDE through eternity, not just the here and now. We need to make sure we don't ignore sharing the gospel as we help the helpless. We want to generate of mass of people who are completely DEPENDENT ON THE LORD.