“HELP!”

Psalm 121

Job 23:1-9, 16-17; Hebrews 4:12-16

Rev. Martin C. Singley, III

When I was younger – so much younger than today – I never needed anybody’s help in anyway.

But now those days are gone, I’m not so self-assured. Now I find I’ve changed my mind and opened up the doors.

Help me if you can, I’m feelin’ down! And I do appreciate y’all bein’ ‘round. Help me get my feet back on the ground.

Won’t you please, PLEASE, help me?

It was August 13^th, 1965 when the Beatles released this hymn – I mean, song. Years later, John Lennon who wrote it said that “Help!” was a sincere cry for help during a particularly pressure-filled period when the group was gaining fame but Lennon himself was experiencing profound loneliness and unhappiness. Lennon said he later regretted changing the music from the original rather solemn downbeat tune similar to Roy Orbison’s “Only The Lonely” into a much more upbeat pop song. That was due to commercial pressures, he said.

And that’s how hymns are sometimes turned into songs.

You see, in my view a hymn is a piece of music that arises out of human pathos. It is an expression of deep emotion that originates in the soul. Hymns may be found not only in hymnals, but even more often playing on the radio. On the surface they may seem to be just secular tunes, but when you listen carefully, something stirs within and you know the music is connecting to your own spirit and life experience and all sorts of stuff deep down inside. Recently, I’ve been thinking about the great hymns of the Beatles.

“Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away,

Now it looks as though they’re here to stay.

Oh, I believe in yesterday.”

Remember that hymn by the Beatles? It’s about being dumped by someone you love. You know the feeling?

Here’s another Beatles hymn:

“When I find myself in times of trouble, Mother Mary comes to me

Speaking words of wisdom, ‘Let it be.’”

Paul McCartney wrote “Let It Be” during another one of those really difficult times when the band seemed ready to fall apart and they were under studio deadlines to finish recording the album of that same name. Exasperated and exhausted, McCartney fell asleep one night and had a dream. In the dream, his mother – who had died of cancer when he was 14 – came to him. She is the Mother Mary figure in the song. And she spoke to her little boy in the dream, “It will be all right, just let it be.”

Hymns. They penetrate to the very core of our being, and into the shared experiences we hold in common with others.

Have you ever been rejected by someone you loved? Have you ever been comforted by a loved one coming to you in a dream? Have you ever cried out for help?

The man we know as Job cried out for help.

He’d lost his family. He’d lost his wealth. He’d lost his health.

Job lost EVERYTHING!

And he got no help from his fellow church members who held a religion that believed human misery is a direct punishment from God for bad behavior. Like some of our Christian brothers and sisters, they provided no help to Job – only judgment. “Surely, you must have screwed up somehow, Job. We know that good things come to good people, and bad things come to bad people. And looking at all the bad that’s come to you, you must’ve REALLY messed up! Why not just own up to it and take your punishment like a man?”

But Job couldn’t whistle that tune or sing that song because he knew it wasn’t true. He was a good man. A just man. An upright man.

And yet life had caved in on him!

Do you know the feeling?

So Job cried out for help. Job cried out to God. And do you know what happened?

Nothing.

I’ll bet there are people here today who know that hymn – the one where we’re facing huge challenges in life and we cry out to God.

But all we get is silence.

It’s like that old Jewish man who used to go down every day to the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem to pray. Someone who saw him praying at the wall every day asked him how it felt. The old man said, “How does it feel? I’ll tell you how it feels. Most of the time it feels like I’m talkin’ to a wall!”

Maybe you know that feeling, too. Job surely knew.

So do you know what Job did in response to the silence? Listen to verses 16 and 17 from our reading:

“God has made my heart faint; the Almighty has terrified me.

Yet, I am not silenced by the darkness, by the thick darkness that covers my face.”

Job will not give up! He will not be muzzled! He will go up to heaven and appear before the judgment seat if necessary! He will be Johnny Corcoran, F. Lee Bailey and Perry Mason combined in the courtroom of the Lord. He will press his case with God! “If the glove don’t fit, you must ACQUIT!”

Poor Job. He has no one to stick up for him but himself. He’s got to represent himself in God’s eternal courts. Oh, wouldn’t it be wonderful if you could hire a lawyer to argue with God on your behalf?

Well, the truth is, you can!

Actually, you don’t have to hire someone to represent you before God, because there is someone who does it for free, simply out of love for you. And he’s described not so much as an attorney, but as a high priest who comes before God in your behalf. Our reading from Hebrews 4 says that he knows everything there is to know about you – the good, the bad and the ugly. Everything is laid bare before him. There are no secrets with him.

And yet, he goes to God on your behalf because, you see, he sympathizes with your weaknesses. He knows what it’s like to be YOU - a human being – to be tempted – to be treated unfairly – to be rejected – to be overwhelmed – to need HELP!

Jesus, the Son of God.

You see, Hebrews 4 is sort of like the second verse of the hymn for help that Job was singing. Though our cry for help seems sometimes to go unanswered, we are encouraged to press on! Keep plugging away! And the passage in Hebrews describes two ways to keep on keeping on: first, HOLD FIRMLY TO THE FAITH YOU PROFESS; and second, APPROACH THE THRONE OF GRACE WITH CONFIDENCE!

In other words, hold onto your faith that Christ is who he says he says he is – your advocate, your high priest, the One who has atoned for your sins, and who promises to save you! When you need help, latch onto Jesus and don’t let go!

And then be confident in God’s grace. God LOVES you. God CREATED you. God BREATHED LIFE into you. God WANTS THE BEST for you!

The trouble with those who think that God inflicts misery upon people like Job, or that God gives cancer to people like us, or that God is sitting on a throne up there just waiting for us to mess up so God can throw heavenly darts at us is that they are left to face life’s difficulties with no one to help. Their belief that God is “out to get them” precludes the belief that God is “out to help us!” The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is a God of grace.

So Hebrews tells us: don’t let go of your faith in Jesus, be confident in God’s grace, and ask for HELP! And the text concludes this way: “So that you may receive mercy and find grace to help in your time of need.”

HELP! It is a powerful hymn of our faith! And we all need to learn to sing it! HELP!

But what about the silent times? What about our prayers that seem to go unanswered?

That’s a question I want to ask God about someday when we’re face-to-face. I think God’s got some explaining to do on that one. But in the meantime, here’s what I personally know: although I have not always gotten the result I wanted from my prayer, there has never been a time in my life when I did not receive God’s help to face the reality that was before me and to somehow deal with the moment. In fact, if you look back over your life, I think you’ll discover that your cry for help has always been answered. That’s how you got to this moment, and to the faith you hold today.

When I was younger, so much younger than today, I never needed anybody’s help in any way. But now those days are gone, I’m not so self-assured. Now I find I’ve changed my mind and opened up the doors.

Help! I need somebody! Help! Not just anybody! Help! You know I need someone.

HELP!