I had a conversation with a teenage boy, let’s call Zach, who was conquering his addictions & made a pretty big impression on me. In our small community, it was fairly noticeable he changed from a private school to a public school in the middle of the year; being gregarious and popular, people learned fairly quickly Zach had been discovered with drugs. Soft drugs, most people assume aren’t addictive, but Zach received counseling for 14 months because he found it very difficult to quit.Some of the reasons, Zach told me, he’d worked hard to quit - being completely robbed twice during wilder parties by his new “friends”. Not being accepted anymore by old friends, people he respected, like my son. He said one of the things he wanted to do, was to convince teenagers drugs are a slippery slope. Zach said it was easier to quit using soft drugs than convince teenagers drugs weren’t the way to go. With his reputation, new druggies loved to come and tell Zach about their new highs, Zach tells them about the lying, the excuses, the spiral down drugs cause & they really didn’t want to hear. Zach said he hadn’t convinced one person and wanted to know how to reach people better.
On Sunday, someone new at church asked me to help them out of their job loss situation. This someone has a complicated life, more complicated than most people I know. I wrote to a few people and asked for help. I really feel pretty powerless to help.
Zach and I are in the same situation, it is just difficult to help people. It is too large a job. God is in control. Difficulty and trouble can help us see the light to Him. I read a Max Lucado article on prayer, he reminds, God hears all of our prayers. Max Lucado’s words saying, “Father, the one you love is …. ill, worried, in need, lonely or whatever the situation requires” and Abba hears us. This touched me because it is true. We should help others, when we can’t, we still can, we can pray and the One who loves us will hear.
Psalm 28
1 To you, O Lord, I call;
my rock, be not deaf to me,
lest, if you be silent to me,
I become like those who go down to the pit.
2 Hear the voice of my pleas for mercy,
when I cry to you for help,
when I lift up my hands
toward your most holy sanctuary. [1]
3 Do not drag me off with the wicked,
with the workers of evil,
who speak peace with their neighbors
while evil is in their hearts.
4 Give to them according to their work
and according to the evil of their deeds;
give to them according to the work of their hands;
render them their due reward.
5 Because they do not regard the works of the Lord
or the work of his hands,
he will tear them down and build them up no more.
6 Blessed be the Lord!
For he has heard the voice of my pleas for mercy.
7 The Lord is my strength and my shield;
in him my heart trusts, and I am helped;
my heart exults,
and with my song I give thanks to him.
8 The Lord is the strength of his people;
he is the saving refuge of his anointed.
9 Oh, save your people and bless your heritage!
Be their shepherd and carry them forever.
Footnotes
[1] 28:2 Hebrew your innermost sanctuary
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