“Lord, Help!” There are times in life where we are so much in the battle that brief cries for help to the Lord are all that we can offer. The New Bible Commentary says, “What Psalm 69 says at length, Psalm 70 expresses as a sharp, urgent cry.” Our prayers take on an extra sense of urgency. “And do it quickly, please!” We must learn to trust the perfect timing and wisdom of our God, but the immediacy that we desire is an expression of our trust in Him rather than giving in to our doubts and turning away from Him.
David had a simple formula in mind as He prays. First, stop those who seek to harm God’s people and purposes. Do not allow those who are the enemies of God and His people to win. Help them to see the error of their ways and that they cannot defeat God. Second, “May all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you!” (vs. 4, ESV). Please remind us that You, God, are in charge and will accomplish all that You promise to do. Help us see your salvation and always know that our “God is great!” (vs. 4 ESV).
Jesus talked of this greatness when He responded to the challenge of the religious leaders who asked for a sign. “Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered him, saying, ‘Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.’ But he answered them, ‘An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here. The queen of the South will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, something greater than Solomon is here’” (Matthew 12: 38-42, ESV). The “something greater” was Jesus Christ and the sign of Jonah was His glorious resurrection three days after His crucifixion. The Apostle Paul highlights God’s great resurrection power that is available to all who place their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. “For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all” (Ephesians 1: 15-23, ESV).
When we choose faith in the One who is “above every name that is named”, we can cry out, “Lord, Help!” and know that He is listening and ready to answer. This prayer becomes a personal confession that I am “poor and needy” (vs. 5, ESV) and I need God to be “my help and my deliverer” (vs. 5, ESV). “If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8: 31, ESV).
