“I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.”

(Psalm 121:1–2, ESV)

Christian, where are you looking for help? Are you looking for it in the President? Honestly, are you? Are you looking for your help to come in the passing of “righteous laws?” Are you hoping in the Constitution? Have you placed your trust in political action and conservatism? Yes, I admit, the Lord can use these things, but are you placing your trust in them and not in the Lord? Have you become confused about where your loyalties lie?

Christian, where are you looking for help? Are you looking for it in a vaccine or medical cure that will keep you safe from the Coronavirus? Are you hoping in science and doctors? Are you panicked that you won’t have enough masks and gloves and hand sanitizer? Are you stockpiling supplies selfishly because you believe that you need to take care of yourself? Are you trusting in media reports, graphs and charts, medical “experts” and the word on the street from social media? Are your driven by fear for your life? Have you become so fearful that God has become small and you must help him along?

Christian, where are you looking for help? Have you become convinced of the thinking that overthrowing the world with angry rhetoric and supporting violent riots is somehow supposed to bring justice in a wicked and fallen world? Have you placed your hope in a Kingdom now, where human philosophy and effort can build a utopia that will somehow address the sin of man’s soul? Have you exchanged the gospel of the crucified Jesus for a gospel of equality and justice won through protest, political action, and evangelism of those who don’t think like you? Have you become so driven by the issue of injustice that you no longer look to Jesus as the one who loves and sent his Son to be the Savior of the world? Have you misplaced your zeal in a hope that things will change without Christ?

Christian, where are you looking for your help? Can you confidently say, “My help comes from the Lord”?

“But”, you say, “we need to exercise our rights as citizens…” Yes, but has your citizenship on earth overridden your trust that this world is not your home?

“But we must make sure that we protect those who are vulnerable. This sickness has killed people.” Yes, but aren’t we already vulnerable, like grass that is here today and gone tomorrow? Does not the Lord see your needs, and cares for you? Does he not already know the number of your days? Does not his love cast out fear? Aren’t we told not to be anxious, but by prayer and supplication make our needs known to the Lord? Will we not all die, even if we have placed our bodies in a vacuum-sealed clean room? But how will you have lived for Christ?

“But, there is racism and poverty in this world, and Jesus calls us to fight for the innocent and to call out sin.” Yes, and we must speak truth to those lies that would undercut the value of any human, whether because of the color of his skin or the money in his pocket. But, a poor man or a man who has hatred for his brother will still be cast into outer darkness when he has money and no longer hates those different than he is. This world is broken. It has been so since the beginning of mankind. Where does Christ fit in for you? Is he simply used to further your personal agenda? And how much are we seeking his help in overcoming the sin of this world, and how much of it is our drive to fix things in our own flesh?

Where does your help come from? It’s an honest question. The Sunday school answer is that “our help comes from the Lord.” But we need to assess our hearts and ask if that is really true. Look around you. Does your life, your actions, your words, reflect a person who trusts in the Lord, or have you placed your hopes elsewhere? He alone, the one who made heaven and earth, is able to overcome. Place your full trust in him alone.