Conviction

Why do we hesitate to help someone in need, worrying about what they will think if we approach them? If we sense a need and ask to help and are pushed away, chalk it up to experience. There are those who will never take help. But what if a person is crying out and you ignore them? How does that show the love and care of God?

Yesterday I was at a meeting and when I came out of the building there was a man in a wheelchair who had arrived at his vehicle. I thought about going to him to ask if I could help him and my mind said “don’t embarrass him, he is used to doing this, he doesn’t need your help.” I walked to my car and got in. I was opening a drink that I had just purchased and looked up and watched him. He could not see me. He stood up with his cane and struggled to open the back of his minivan. It had one of the doors that lift up. After he got the door opened he struggled to pull the seat off of the wheelchair so that he could collapse it. He folded the chair and struggled to lift the chair into the van. He was very unsteady on his feet so it made it difficult to keep his balance and lift the chair. He had it partway in the van and it fell out.

That was it; I was out of my car and walking very fast over to him. I asked if I could help and he said “yes” with a tired sigh. I lifted the wheelchair into his van and asked how he wanted it to face so that it would be easy for him to get it out when he reached his next destination. He had dropped his cane and was bending down to pick it up and I asked if he needed help with that but he was getting it. He asked if I could close the back door for him. He didn’t need anything more from me so I walked back to my car.

Once I was in my car I asked God to forgive me for waiting so long to go and help him and I prayed that I would never again hesitate so long to offer assistance to anyone. What if that man was crying on the inside, “Lord have someone come and help me right now!”

The sad thing was I wasn’t the only person around. There were two women talking who were very close to his vehicle and must have seen his struggle.

There have been times when I have cried out to God for help when I needed right now and it didn’t come. Was it a failure of God, I doubt that, I think it was failure of the person that God spoke to who was too busy or just did not want to get involved. If we are his hands and feet and a light to the world we are doing a poor job. Maybe you are doing great in this and it is only me who has been slack but I don’t want to be slack anymore. The Word says we reap what we sow. I want to sow assistance where I can so that I can reap it when I need it and if I never need it I will thank God that I have the strength and ability to help others. Selah