Hey God! I Sure Could Use Some Help Down Here!!!
Hank Wilson
Copyright Hank Wilson 2011
Published By Ag Management Systems, Inc Publishing at Smashwords
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INTRODUCTION
Have you ever watched a movie where part of the setting is onboard a ship and someone falls overboard? Or do you remember the scene in the film “It’s a wonderful life” when younger brother Harry falls through the ice? Or how about any movie set in the jungle when a member of the party steps in quicksand and begins to sink? Or any scene set in the mountains where somebody has fallen off a cliff and is stranded? In each of those situations the person who is in danger can be seen reaching up for help. Their arms are extended upward (well if they’re conscious, if not then they just kind of lie there), but anyway they are reaching out for help.
Life can often be like that. We find ourselves in situations where we need some help and where we need to cry out for someone to help us. Not necessarily save us from danger, but save us from making bad decisions, help us to make the right decision at the right time. This book is designed to help every person who needs help but is unsure of where to get it. As a Christian, I believe that the one person who can give me the help I need when I am in crisis is Jesus. I believe that if I am lost if I am struggling He will help me find a way, I DON’T BELIEVE THAT HE WILL MAGICALLY MAKE LIFE PERFECT; as a retired Pastor (yes, I’m one of those, more about that at the end of the book) who spent his time working with folks who were hurting, I’ve seen dramatic changes that people have made in their lives when they turned to Him. I’ve experience it first hand in my own life so to me it’s not a theory, it is reality.
I also believe that you and I can actually talk with God. In the old days, people took it for granted that they could speak directly with God. That we can have a very personal relationship with God, and that if you pray for something He will answer, now sometimes His answer is no, but He always would answer. However, over time we seem to have lost that belief. We have more and more ‘experts’ telling us that God doesn’t exist, that God is a fantasy, that if you believe in God then you are being irrational, you are simplistic. That prayer is useless, well now I don’t know if they’re right or not, I do know that from what I have seen over the years, and as I said what I have experienced to me God is as real as you and me. Now I don’t believe that He looks like George Burns or that He’s some old dude sitting around somewhere, playing cribbage or canasta, I do believe that He exists, I don’t worry about His form, I don’t need to put a human face on Him.
I do feel sorry for those who don’t believe or those who hate or laugh at those who do believe. It must be lonely and frustrating living in a world where you have no hope of a long term future, where the only thing you’re living for is the here and now. This book is for those who have reached the end of their rope and who are looking for something more than what the world has to offer. Like I said before, it’s up to you to believe or not to believe, just ask yourself, how are your choices working out for you?
This book is based on situations I have encountered over the years, both in my own life and in the lives of those I know and the messages that I delivered to help in those situations. They are messages of hope, of love and most importantly they are based on the teachings of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Each is written to help learn how we (you and I) can call upon God to help us deal with the issues that each and every one of us have faced or may in the future face. It’s about dealing with fear, frustration, depression, overcoming life’s obstacles and finally how we should never let go of our hope.
The solutions I bring up are the ones I have found that have helped me and the people I know when we were facing these situations. Being a Christian or living as a Christian is a choice, you are free to reject the teachings of Jesus if you so desire, it’s your life and you alone will have to answer for your choices. The messages I deliver are intended to help folks understand that the Gospel of Jesus is indeed a living Gospel and it is as appropriate for us today as it was when it was first taught 2,000 years ago.
So if you’re depressed, frustrated, afraid, facing so many obstacles you feel like you’re at the foot of a mountain and losing all hope for the future, then turn your face up to heaven and shout out ---
HEY GOD! I SURE COULD USE SOME HELP DOWN HERE!!!
Learn From Those Who Came Before
Throughout life, our Heavenly Father offers many trails for us to travel, and each has blessings hidden amid the hills and valleys. He offers us the gift of learned wisdom; be it clear and pleasant paths or challenges on a rough and rocky trail. We are about to embark on a journey with Hank as he follows the path of Jesus Christ. In sharing the sacred teachings of our Lord and Savior, this old preacher gathers strays and mends broken fences upon the wings of God’s love and promise of eternal forgiveness
When people find out I believe in Jesus or that I used to be a pastor, I am sometimes asked, “Why” by people who have suddenly seen their life take a turn for the worse. Why are things going bad? Why has God turned His back on me? Maybe we’re undergoing a divorce, been diagnosed with a life threatening illness, and heard a son or daughter has been arrested for drugs, or lost a mother or father or other relative to death. I’ve been asked why folks who are truly evil, truly nasty to others, who are liars, cheaters, thieves can always seem to get ahead in this world while believers are suffering.
Sometimes life seems to be turning dark and yet when you turn on the television you see so many people out today teaching what is called the prosperity gospel. They teach that all you have to do is ‘name it and claim it’ and God will shower you with earthly riches; that if you give enough of your money to their ministry, then
God will reward you ten times over; or if simply keep on the sunny side of life and think positive thoughts then God will give you your best life ever. Let me be blunt about one thing “GOD IS NOT AN ATM MACHINE” and since those teaching the prosperity gospel are primarily interested in their own prosperity, they fail to teach their followers the truth, they fail to teach their followers that things sometimes go wrong, that sometimes fruit actually does rot in the basket.
And so when things do go bad, their followers are just not prepared for the tough times; because their faith is based on things rather than the reality that is God. When the people who attend those churches don’t get rich or have pain and suffering, doubt begins to set in and folks often just drift away.
Let me tell you the story of an old timer who went through a whole bunch of trials and tribulation and maybe he faced some of the same or similar stuff you’re facing in your life. You might recognize him, his name was Job.
Now most of us have heard the story about Job. How he held on and overcame some really bad times, but how many of us realize exactly how important his story is? How valuable his story can be to us today? In the book of James in chapter 5 verse 11 writes of how so many have heard the story of Job and how he endured all the tests that Satan had threw at him; and how if we as Christians can muster even the smallest shred of the faith and belief that Job had then we too can overcome and conquer the issues facing us.
The story of Job is one of tragedy and triumph, it tells of his reaction to losing his business, his family, and his health. It tells of others watching to see how he is going to react. His story teaches me that when there is no rational or even theological explanation for disaster or pain, we must trust God. As a Christian, I must show my complete and unmitigated trust in God. And it also tells us that it’s ok to yell and ask God what’s going on and that no matter how dark it seems, no matter how despondent I am, no matter how scared or worried I get that I must continue to believe in and trust God and that can be very difficult for us to do.
In today’s society, we are often judged a success or a failure based on the following criteria: Do we have a lot of money? Do we have a big house? Do we have a big car? Do we wear the latest fashions? Do our children have the latest toys? Are we active with social or religious organizations? Do we have a thriving family? And, do we maintain a position of authority where we work? By all accounts in today’s world Job would be considered a success. How successful was he? In chapter 1 verses 1:3 we get a picture of Job.
He had a strong faith in God
“There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job; and that man was blameless, upright, fearing God and turning away from evil.”
Tithed, prayed, sacrificed to God, walked the straight and narrow, did what he was supposed to do. Nobody could talk bad about him, great reputation, probably was a deacon in his church, all around good guy.
He was a successful family man
“Seven sons and three daughters were born to him.”
In a time when big families were necessary for survival he did his part. If they would have had soccer moms and dads in those days, Job and his wife would have been right at the top of the list, making sure their kids got to where they had to be.
Job was a success in his business.
“His possessions also were 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, 500 female donkeys, and very many servants; and that man was the greatest of all the men of the east”
This was a spread, Job’s place was like the old Ponderosa on TV there were thousands of acres, cattle, horses and wildlife. And it’s also clear from verses 4:5 that Job and his family were known throughout the country.
In fact, Job was so well known and respected that he became a source of irritation to Satan who decides to take his aggravation over Job straight to the top, he takes it to God. The conversation between Satan and God gets going and Satan gets so cranky that he challenges God and says the only reason Job is loyal to him is because Job is rich and that if things get tough Job’s going to bail on God, (and you know what, if Satan made that challenge today and picked out some folks from some of the mega-churches around, he might even win because in today’s churches there are lot of folks who only attend because they think there’s material riches in it for them; but that was then and this is now…) so God says, ‘I’ll take your bet, you’re gonna regret, Job’s one of the best that’s ever been’ (apologies to Charlie Daniels…) and so it begins.
First, his possessions are destroyed. Think about this, here Job’s sitting at home with his wife watching the big game, his sons and daughters are over at one of the boys’ houses having a party, so life is pretty good. And then here comes a knock at the door and one of his workers is standing there and tells him, ‘hey boss, some folks showed up and took all our animals and by the way, they also killed all our workers’, and while THIS GUY IS STILL THERE here comes another one and he says ‘you know those sheep we had in the back pastures, well they were all killed when a wild fire came tearing through the pasture’ and while THIS GUY IS STILL THERE, here comes another one who tells him ‘we’ve been hit by rustlers and all our horses are gone’ and WHILE THIS GUY IS STILL THERE here comes the worse news of all ‘a freak windstorm blew down the house your kids were partying in and they’re all dead’. Now that’s a bad day, a very bad day.
Hearing the news of the destruction, Job reacts as most of us do, his first reaction is grief, but in his grief he does something that most of us won’t and can’t do; he turns to God in worship (1:20-22). “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, And naked I shall return there,
The Lord gave, and the Lord took away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.” Job knows, Job understands that no matter how much stuff we have, we only have stuff, we only have things.
Job didn’t blame God nor did he turn away from God. We, as Christians, are often challenged by the circumstances of our life. When we lose our family to an accident, lose our house to a flood or hurricane, and lose possessions, we must always remember; the things of this earth are indeed temporary, and they truly are only objects and we sure can’t take anything that we have here with us when we die. There’s a song that I love that touches on that very topic, called ‘Trailer Hitch’ and the theme is we’ve never seen a hearse with a trailer hitch and we never will.
So here’s Job, the stuff is gone, the kids have died, what more can go wrong? Well let me tell you, a lot more, he begins to lose his health. That’s right, now he’s getting sick, talk about things going from bad to worse, Job becomes one sick puppy, he’ got boils all over his body from the soles of his feet to the top of his head, it got so bad that he sat among the ashes scratching himself. Now if you’ve ever had a rash, or an itch, think about one that covers your whole body and after you go to the doctor he says something like ‘hmm, never saw that before, not much I can do for you’, you’re going to wonder what’s going on.
And by now his wife has had enough and she’s mad as a wet hen, she’s stomping around the house, getting angrier and angrier by the moment and she demands that he turn from God. In verse 9, she states, “Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die!”
That’s a tad harsh isn’t it? And yet, that’s exactly what we often run into when things go bad when we’re tested, when we’re challenged. We’ll have friends and family members tell us our faith is wasted, our faith is useless. Job answers her in the only way he can “But he said to her, ‘You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God and not accept adversity?’”
His faith was being tested and when your faith is being tested it can be tough on you, it can drain you, it can make you doubt. My faith was tested while having to undergo eye surgery; not able to work, not able to keep business contracts, and feeling the darkness of despair. I found myself questioning God’s plan for my life, I mean after all, I had done what I thought He had wanted me to do, I had gone back to the ministry, I had begun to spread His word. Now all of a sudden, I had friends encouraging me to give up this ministry thing and go back into business full time, and so doubts began to creep into my mind. I couldn’t understand why things were going so badly after all, I had done what He told me to do.
Things kept going badly and in fact, the eyesight got worse after the surgery. You see the Doctor had told me I wouldn’t remember the surgery and not only did I remember it, I was awake for the entire 2 hours and towards the end, the anesthesia they used to numb the eye began to wear off so I was in pain and at first I was unable to tell them, but eventually I was able to say ‘whatever you’re doing to my eye hurts’ and they were stunned that I could speak.
After the surgery I eventually lost complete sight in the eye and Job taught me, the true meaning of verse 10, “Shall we indeed accept good from God and not accept adversity?” You see Job taught me how to deal with my conflicts, with my questions, with my doubts. If I accept and trust, then eventually, my eyes will open to see the reality of the situation; the path He wants me to walk. During those moments of surgery when I was in pain on the operating table, I just turned it over to God and sure enough I got through it, just like we can get through anything with His help.
But enough about me, let’s get back to our buddy Job.
Job in angry and in pain and is suffering so he does something that most folks say you shouldn’t do, he questions why he’s even here on the earth, he questions God. He wants to know why? Why? Why? And in chapter 3 verse 11 he asks, “Why did I not die at birth, come forth from the womb and expire?” That’s a question that has only one answer, it’s because God had a plan for him and God has a plan for each of us. But it’s OK to ask God to show you the way, it’s OK to ask God why, it’s OK to stand and yell at the top of your voice ‘Heavenly Father, show me the way’ because if you depend on your earthly friends to help you out, to comfort you, quite often you’re going to run into exactly what Job gets from his friends.