Watch a small child who has siblings sometime, who gets hurt and needs someone to help immediately. That child will look into the eyes of everyone around him, walking past each potential source of help, including brothers and sisters, until he finds Mom or Dad. He knows who can really help him.
Psalm 108, either written by David or about David ("Psalm of David" can mean either), reflects a common theme that shows up repeatedly in the Psalms. There is danger all around, the psalmist needs help and he turns to the Lord. He needs deliverance, and he makes a profound statement in verse 12 that should be the prayer of every believer, especially in the times in which we live.
"Oh give us help against the adversary, for deliverance by man is in vain."
Typically, we get into trouble, or we give in to temptation around us, or we allow the world around us to dictate how we solve problems. By doing so, we are expecting and hoping for deliverance by man. We are saying that we can do it ourselves, that we don't need any help.
Our primary adversary is Satan, who with his angels, desires to see us fall into hopeless sinful life patterns. Somehow he helps fuel the temptations that we encounter daily. And that real battle lies inside each of us. Sure, we can look at the news and see the moral and social decay happening every minute, but those are simply symptoms of the foundational issues surrounding a world which has all but abandoned God's Word. The daily battles in which we must be victorious are internal, and we cannot win on our own. Our help MUST come from the Lord.
Let's purposefully turn to God with our trials, our troubles, our sin, our shortcomings, and then praise Him for His help, His deliverance. Make this your daily prayer, as I will try to also:
"Oh give us help against the adversary, for deliverance by man is in vain."
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