Show me in the Bible where it says “God helps those who help themselves.” It’s a quote I have heard many times. It’s the exact opposite of scripture though. Psalm 116 says, God takes the side of the helpless. In Psalm 68, He is Father to the fatherless, defender of widows, who are both part of the helpless. God helps the helpless and He sets us free from all bondage.
Rise up, O God, and scatter your enemies. Let those who hate God run for their lives. Psalm 68:1
In this Psalm, David makes a lot of contrasting statements. What do I mean? Several verses are describing who God is and quite a few outline the fate of those who want nothing to do with God.
Look at the verse I chose for today followed by verses 2 and 3. David requested that God would scatter his enemies making them run for their lives. He said, blow them away like smoke. Melt them like wax. Let the wicked perish. But in the next few verses, he talks about singing praises to the Lord and he identified who God is.
David started out as a musician and worshiper before he ever became a man of war. Verse 4 says, Sing praises to God and to his name! Sing loud praises to him who rides the clouds. His name is the Lord— rejoice in his presence!
Helping the Helpless
He quickly goes into describing who God is. He is Father to the fatherless, defender of widows— this is God, whose dwelling is holy. Let me set the stage of why what David wrote in this verse is so important. In Bible days, the homeless and widows very rarely had anyone to care for them.
They usually would have had to beg for food or money to buy food. Even today God is still there for the helpless. David wrote in Psalm 37, I have never seen the godly abandoned or their children begging for bread.
Verse 6 says, God places the lonely in families; I have seen countless times when someone who seemingly didn’t belong anywhere becomes loved and embraced by a family.
He continued with, he sets the prisoners free and gives them joy. How does God set a person free when they are still in jail? We used to sing a song that had these lyrics, set my spirit free that I may worship thee. Just because our circumstances don’t change around us doesn’t mean we can’t be set free.
Jesus said these words in John chapter 8, So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. We not only receive freedom within us, we also will a heart full of joy. Thank God that He sets us free.
In verses 19 and 20, the Psalmist gives a quick praise when he wrote, Praise the Lord; praise God our savior! And then continues to describe God’s character some more. For each day he carries us in his arms. Our God is a God who saves! The Sovereign Lord rescues us from death.
Sing His Praises
Let’s take a look at verses 32 to the end of the chapter. David again lifts his voice in song, Sing to God, you kingdoms of the earth. Sing praises to the Lord. Sing to the one who rides across the ancient heavens, his mighty voice thundering from the sky.
This reminds me of another song we used to sing, Majesty, worship His Majesty. Jesus who died, now glorified, King of all kings.
The prophet Jeremiah wanted to stay quiet because of the persecution he was enduring, but he couldn’t. He said God’s message was burning in his bones.
The Psalmist said, Tell everyone about God’s power. His majesty shines down on Israel; his strength is mighty in the heavens. He’s worth talking about.
He’s worthy of our praise. You might also enjoy reading this post, Everyone from the Least to the Greatest Will Know the Lord!
The writer ends this Psalm with these words. God is awesome in his sanctuary. The God of Israel gives power and strength to his people. God is awesome everywhere for everyone!
What About Today?
Today, every person who has accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior are His people. In other words, our awesome God gives you power and strength!
Did I accomplish my goal? That goal is for you to have a song in your heart that you are praising our awesome God all day long. John wrote in his first epistle that we can have complete joy in this related post called, How To Experience Complete Joy In The Lord.
Lord, receive the praise from our lips as we lift up your name. Thank you for setting us free and giving us power and strength to live each day of our lives.
This post is one of 7 that make up a free eBook. It is called Does God Really Put A High Value On Us? Click on the title to go to the description page and get to get your free copy.
Also read an excellent post on Worship called, How To Worship God With All Of Your Life.
Check out these related posts.
- What’s The Best Way To Seek Forgiveness Of Sin?
- When Someone Unintentionally Sins, What Happens?
- How Does My Sin Affect Other People?
- It’s Important To Know How Sinful We Are
- Will God Forgive Me If I Keep Sinning
- How To Be Free In Life
- How To Be Free From The Slavery Of Sin.
- Punishment from God Because of Sin
Here’s access some you can read all of Psalm 68
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Amen. I like Exodus 14:14 The Lord will fight for you. You need only to be still. I don’t think that means sitting around waiting for things to happen though.
I’ve always said, the Lord told us to go, if we need a special call, it would be to stay still. God bless you.