March 4, 2025 Devo

Julian Hernandez and his 12-year-old son were hiking in Snow Canyon in Utah a couple of weeks ago. The Red Mountain Trail that they were on was a 13.5-mile hike through some pretty tough terrain. It became much more than they had bargained for. Near the top of the Snow Canyon overlook, they got off the trail. They descended down a steep slope to a ledge where they got stuck. They couldn’t go down any further and couldn’t go back up. They weren’t truly prepared for the hike they were on and totally unprepared to have to spend a night on an exposed ledge in winter. The situation suddenly became dangerous.
But then something miraculous happened. They found a backpack that had been left by a hiker who had also gotten stuck near that same ledge a month before! He was going to try to jump from one ledge to the other, so he threw his pack first. After doing so, he realized the jump was too far and too dangerous, and now there was no way to retrieve his pack. In that pack was everything that Julian and his son needed to make it through the night and wait until rescue workers came to get them the next day. The first hiker thought he’d lost his pack. But he didn’t. God was just borrowing it to help out a couple of His other lost kids.
God’s amazing that way, isn’t He? He not only knows what we need, He knows it BEFORE we know it! When I read this story this week, I thought about situation after situation where God went ahead of me or provided the help I needed exactly when I needed it. God is not absent in our struggles. He is not far away in our time of need. He is WITH us. As Julian discovered, He is even AHEAD of us. He is our Helper.
Do YOU need help today? David’s prayer is a great one to claim if you do. God sees where you are. He knows the ledge you’re on. He knows the struggle that you face. He knows the trouble that you’re in. And can I tell you something? He’s a lot closer than you know! Cry out to the Lord today. See if He’s not able to come to your rescue. You may even discover that He’s already provided for your need. You just may not have found that backpack yet. Help is on the way. That’s God’s Word for you today.