Greater Help Needed: The Strength Found in Surrendering to God

Shared on April 20, 2025

Introduction

The testing of today has revealed to us that we ought to be helping each other with the testing of the day.  What the testing of today has also revealed to us is that there are problems and questions that we aren’t able to help each other with.  So, we ought to be raising our hands in the air so that we can receive greater help.  However, I have to ask, will you raise your hand to get greater help, or will you keep your hands down and not be helped?

Why Aren’t We Seeking Greater Help

Some of us have raised our hands in the air to get help from the one overseeing this world.  Not only does the one overseeing all things not mind you getting help from others, but He also desires to you.  In fact, He wants to give you the answers to the test so that you can pass the test!  However, many of us aren’t seeking His help today.

Some of us don’t seek help from anyone, let alone seek greater help, because we believe we have everything under control.  Problems?  What problems?  This is the mindset of those who are filled with pride and ego!  The prideful person doesn’t seek help because they don’t believe they need help.  Be very careful about having this mindset.

Some of us aren’t seeking greater help today because we don’t believe our problems can be solved.  You might be someone who doesn’t believe that there is an answer to what you are going through today.  So, rather than raising your hands to see if there is help, you leave your hand down.  Do you think this person will pass the testing of today by not asking for help?

Some of us aren’t seeking greater help today because we’re either too afraid, to ashamed, or too embarrassed to raise our hand for help.  This reminds me of being a student in school.  The teacher would ask if anyone had any questions, and those of us who needed to ask wouldn’t ask because we didn’t want to see stupid.  Should this person think they will pass their test by not asking for help?

Some of us aren’t seeking greater help today because we think we’re a lost cause and can’t be helped.  You see, some of us think we’re too far gone in sin to receive His greater help.  Yes, there are many who believe that the overseer won’t help them because of who they are.  

All but one of these reasons come from a hopeless mindset.  If you don’t believe you can get help nor pass the test, you won’t make it – you’ve doomed yourself.  For those who are so prideful to believe they don’t need any help, you’ve aslo doomed yourself to fail.  Why is that?  Because everybody needs help with something, especially in the testing of today!

David’s Warning About Not Seeking Greater Help

I want to share with you a psalm of David, Psalm 32.  This is a psalm that is all about accountability, seeking, finding, and receiving greater help.  You see, David retells us of a time when he found himself in trouble, but wouldn’t acknowledge that he was in need of greater help.

David great sin

If you’re not familiar with the story of David’s great sin, let me share it with you.  The story of David’s great sin is found in 2 Samuel 11.  David gave in to lust and temptation when he committed adultery with Bathsheba.  After committing adultery, David began to compound his sin when Bathsheba told him of her pregnancy.

David called for her husband, Uriah, who was on the battlefield for Israel.  David sought to get Uriah to lie with his wife, trying to hide and cover up his sin.  However, Uriah felt guilty that he was away from the battlefield with his brothers and wouldn’t even go see his wife.  So, David sent Uriah back to battle and had him put on the front lines so that he would die in battle.

Again, David was compounding his sin with more wicked actions.  To make matters worse, David married Bathsheba after Uriah’s death to further hide and cover up his sin.  You see, David thought he had everything under control, but what David failed to realize was the damage that he was doing to his soul.

David’s great trouble

So, David tells us that when he kept silent, not seeking help with his troubles, his bones grew old through his groaning all day long (Ps. 32:3).  David wasn’t seeking greater help, when he should have been seeking help.  No, David didn’t need help covering up his sin, but he needed help for the trouble he was causing his soul.

Because David was doing harm to his soul, he said that he was affected physically.  When David tells us that he was groaning all day long, David also affected in his mental and emotional states becuase his soul was in agony.  Life just wasn’t the same for David!  

The food that used to taste good wasn’t tasting good anymore to David.  What used to make David wasn’t funny anymore!  What used to make David happy, wasn’t making him happy anymore! 

What hurt David even more was that, rather than turning to greater help, he had chosen to dodge God.  That choice led David to say, “For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; My vitality was turned into the drought of summer (Ps. 32:4).”  Whose hand was upon David?  God’s hand!

You see, David knew that he wasn’t doing well in his soul!  David knew that he was in serious trouble!  When David says that his vitality was in drought, David was talking about his passion and joy of spirit.  David knew he wouldn’t be able to continue much longer without having any joy in his soul!

That makes me wonder: How can one truly function with so much weighin on them?  How can one truly function when they are in trouble in their soul but won’t turn to get help from the one who knows the soul?

You see, we have to deal with life, our trials, our tribulations, and our afflictions, which will weigh you down if you try to bear them all by yourself.  For David, and for all of us who are of sincere faith, our actions, especially those we aren’t proud of, they weigh on our conscious – our soul – as well.  Like David, when our soul is in agony, food doesn’t taste the same, what’s funny isn’t funny anymore, and we end up with a depressed soul.

This causes me to wonder how many of us are living in agony and misery, because our souls are in trouble, but we won’t turn to the greater help that is available to us!  Like David, I have been in that valley and I know firsthand you can’t make it out of that valley without God. That lowly place of sorrow, depression, and despair is not one you want to stay in!  Greater help is available to you, and He will deliver you from that place but you must turn to Him.  

How to Seek and Receive God’s Help

The last thing you ought to be doing is turning down God’s helping hand!  We won’t make it if we don’t seek and get greater help, especially when it’s required.  We’re living in a moment where we all of us ought to be turning to God’s helping hand!

So, where do we begin so that we can receive God’s help?  Is it as easy as us just raising our hands for help? From our earlier analysis of why we are seeking greater help today, the starting place is with one’s mindset – a change is needed.

Let go of the prideful mindset

Those who are of a prideful mindset must cast away their pride, or else, the tests of today and tomorrow will destroy them.  Matthew 23:12, Jesus said, “And whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”  One way or the other, the proud will be humbled, and most of the times, it is not a pretty humbling.

Proverbs 16:18 is right when the proverb tells us that pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.  I imagine that you’re familiar with the saying:  “Pride goes before the fall”.  David is an example of being humbled when he got caught up in himself.  The devil is the greatest example of one whose pride saw him cast out of the kingdom of heaven (Ezek. 28:14-16)!

Let go of the hopeless mindset

Those who, for whatever reason, are living without the hope that they can be helped, you must change your mindset.  I want you to understand that you have reason to hope.

You see, the gospels tell us of a woman who had an issue of blood for several years.  This woman spent twelve years going to physicians for help, but they gave up trying to make her well.  When the physicians lose hope, that’s typically not a good sign!

So, this woman was left with a choice:  she could either lose hope and give up, or find help from elsewhere.  The gospels tell us that rather than give up, she heard about and sought the one named Jesus.  Let’s be clear, the woman turned to greater help.  Scripture tells us that as soon as she touched Jesus’ garment, she was healed of her affliction (Mark 5:25-34).

John 5:1-15 tells us of a man who was at the pool of Bethesda, hoping that he could be dipped in the pool and made well by its “magic”.  The only problem the man faced was that he was lame, and nobody would help lift him into the pool.  So, as the man was becoming hopeless of ever being helped, that man named Jesus stood next to Him and spoke with him about his hopelessness.

Rather than taking him and putting him in the pool, Jesus instructed the man to rise, take up his bed, and walk.  That was a moment when the man could have completely given up hope or moved with the hope that Jesus had made him well.  The man chose to believe, and he immediately stood to his feet, took his bed, and walked all over the place!

I share these two examples with you because, as Jesus was there for those two, He is still here with all of us today!  There is truly no reason for you to doubt that there is no help for you.  There is truly no reason for you to doubt that ther is no answer for your problems.  The only moment when those statements become a reality is when you give up hope and don’t bother seeking help from the Lord!

Let go of thinking God won’t help you

To those of you who think you are a lost cause because of your crimes against God, you must also change your mindset.  

You see, the gospels tell us of a man who was of the Gadarenes (Mark 5:1-20).  This man was possessed by many demons who called themselves Legion.  Because of his wild, demonic behavior, the townsfolk kicked him out of town!  The man lived in the mountains or in the tombs as the demons had their way with him.

One day, he saw Jesus coming from afar, and he ran out to meet Jesus.  This man, just like the others we’ve seen, was in serious need of help that he couldn’t find elsewhere.  Where others were unable to help him, Jesus cast the demons into nearby swine, and the man was made well.  I don’t care what kind of demon is in you, you’re not a lost cause!

If you truly do believe you’re a lost cause, consider the dying thief who was hanging next to Jesus (Luke 24:39-43).  While one of the criminals was mocking and blaspheming Jesus, the other said to leave Jesus alone!  The thief acknowledged his wrongdoing, holding himself accountable for his actions, and asked Jesus to remember him when He entered into His kingdom.

Did Jesus punish that thief?  Did Jesus belittle him and push him away?  Absolutely not!  Jesus looked to him and showed him mercy on the spot.  Jesus said to the thief, “Today you will be with Me in Paradise.”

You are not a lost cause!  There is nothing but one crime one may commit that the Lord will not pardon, blaspheming the Spirit.  You can find mercy and grace in the eyes of God, but again, you must go to Him and seek His help!

Going Through With Seeking God’s Help

We must not do as David did when he needed help!  If you are trying to run from God, or dodge going to Him, stop doing that!  After you have changed your mindset, follow through with turning to His greater help.

David said that he acknowledged his sin to the Lord, and no longer hid his iniquity from Him.  You see, after the Lord sent Nathan the prophet to him, David made up his mind to stop running and admit he needed help.  When you can admit that you’re in need of help, that is the greatest show of strength that one can display!

There are many today who are moving with this mindset that it is a show of weakness to ask for help.  There are many today who believe they are being an adult when they are able to fix their own problems.  However, I tell you, it takes maturity, humility, and accountability when you can acknowledge and admit to God that you’re in trouble and need help!

David said that he confessed his transgression to God and pay attention to what God did when he came to Him.  David said that the Lord forgave the iniquity of his sin – God gave him the help that he required.  In Psalm 51, you can see when David cried out for the Lord to create in him a clean heart and renew the joy of His salvation.  David was in trouble and finally turned to God, and God was there to help him!

I don’t care what your trouble may be, it could be sin or something completely different, God will help you!  When we think that God isn’t able, the only thing we end up doing is hurting ourselves.  I encourage you today to carry through, give God a chance to help you, and see that He is able.

God Will Help Us Pass

In Psalm 32:6, David said that when the godly turn to the Lord, the flood of great waters won’t overcome them.  The flood of great waters is certainly a reminder of Noah and the great flood.  

Genesis 6-8 tells us of the story of Noah and the great flood.  Those who were living in that time were living in wickedness, refusing to even hear God’s voice.  So, the Lord prepared to send a great flood to destroy mankind.  Yet, Noah found favor in God’s eyes.

So, God gave Noah instructions to build the ark so that he wouldn’t be lost with those who refused to turn to the Lord.  As the flood waters troubled and destroyed those of wickedness, Noah and his family rose on top of those waters.  Noah and his family survived and passed the testing of that day.

No, there are literally flood waters flooding the world, but the world is surely being flooded in wickedness and many troubles.  God has provided a way out and over those troubles, but all one must do is turn to Him and heed His instructions.  As David said, when we heed God’s instructions, we will rise above the troubles of this world and not be destroyed in the testing of today.

David sang, “Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered (Ps. 32:1).”  I say to you today, blessed are those whose help is the Lord and they go to Him.  The reason I say that is because I know that God will do for you what He does for me anytime I find myself in a world of trouble!  God will make you content and satisfied in your soul – this is what it means to be blessed. As I said earlier in this series of sermons, the testing of the day is a wake-up call for all of us. 

As I said at that time, it is time for us to wake up and answer the call.  This is a moment where every last one of us should be seeking God’s help so that we can pass this test.  God will answer, and He will help you with all of your problems to ensure that you do pass the testing of the day.