Help? Who Needs It?

I don’t know how many of you have had a moment when you were told by someone that you just needed to ask for help. Recently, my wife hit me with one of these statements.

For the last week, I have been trying to fix a couple of things on our riding lawn mower which in theory should be really easy to do. Theory that is.

I reluctantly asked a friend of mine from church if he had something that might work for this particular project.

My problem in these scenarios is that I am trying to prove myself to anyone and everyone that I can do things like this. Right or wrong, most people do not see me as the kind of person that builds or repairs things like sheds, ramps, dryers, lawnmowers, etc. All of which I have done during this COVID era.

The truth is, I like to learn how to fix these kinds of things. I would prefer to not HAVE to do them, but I really don’t mind. What I don’t like to do is to ask for help. I love the feeling of accomplishing it and knowing that I did it.

There are moments when I will ask for help, but it is not a default perspective.

Then I am driving to the church yesterday morning and I passed a tow truck in a parking lot hooking up another tow truck! Think about it: a tow truck towing another tow truck. The help needed help.

Scripture teaches us over and over about our need for help. In Proverbs 3:5-6, it says: “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.”

Lean not on your own understanding. I know this is hard in the world we live in today with blogs, YouTube videos, and the old-fashioned self-help books. There is an unlimited amount of resources for you to do anything, learn anything, or find out anything you want to know.

Even with all that at our disposal, we still try and do a lot of things by ourselves. We need to trust in the Lord and lean not on our own understanding. So, whether it is asking for directions, actually following those directions, asking for help with a project or asking for prayer for a specific need, I encourage you to lean not on your own understanding this week.

Remember we all, especially those of us who are used to helping everyone else, need a little help sometimes. Just like the tow truck that needed a tow truck.

Anyway, I was just thinking…