February 4, 2025 Devo

February 4th, 2025

“Walking Through the Psalms”
“Lord, you know the hopes of the helpless. Surely you will hear their cries and comfort them.” – Psalm 10:17 (NLT)
“Helpless but Not Hopeless”

Helpless. Is there any worse feeling than that? Like staring at a pile of bills that you cannot pay. Or being hooked up to a bunch of machines in a hospital bed, completely at the mercy of those attending to you. Or watching your adult child make horrible decisions and know you can’t stop them from making them nor can you stop the consequences of what’s going to happen to them. Or like being the victim of a smear campaign where people are spreading rumors and lies just to humiliate you or undermine you.
Helplessness can sap your energy. It can leave you wrung out and weary and just wanting to pull the covers up over your head. For some of us, helplessness has the exact opposite effect. It causes us to become panicky. We get agitated and hyper, and instead of doing nothing, we overreact to everything. Ever been there?
But helplessness is not hopelessness. Our passage today reminds us of that. “Lord, you know the hopes of the helpless. Surely you will hear their cries and comfort them.” Though there are times when our situation is beyond our strength and ability, it is never beyond the ability of God. Many of us could testify of those times when there was more month left than money, BUT GOD PROVIDED. Others of us could share how we heard doctors say there was nothing they could do, BUT THERE WAS SOMETHING GOD COULD DO. Still others of us could share how we had to give our children over to God because of the choices they were making, and GOD BROUGHT THEM HOME! Our God is an awesome God who is greater than our need, greater than our foes, and greater than our fears. He is Our Hope!
God is also Our Comforter. As we cry out to Him, He draws near to us. So lay your helplessness before the Lord today. Release yourself from the fear that you have to rescue yourself. Put yourself in the Hand of God and trust Him to be your Provider, Deliverer, Sustainer, and Healer. God will lift you out or God will see you through. Yes, you may be helpless. But you are never hopeless! That’s God’s Word for you today.