Asking for Help!

             Recently, I broke my foot.  It wasn’t a painful break but because it was my right foot, I couldn’t drive.  That fact caused more discomfort than the break because it meant that I had to ask for help.  I’m a type A, independent woman with a little (okay, a lot) of my family’s stubborn streak, so asking for help does not come naturally.  I needed people to drive me to the doctor, to pick up groceries, and to get to church.  Fortunately, I have a great family and wonderful friends who often didn’t wait for me to ask, they called me to see if I needed a ride.

            Now that I’m back to driving, I’ve had the opportunity to consider what a blessing all these “chauffeurs” have been to me and to think about what it means to allow others to help.  The story of Elijah and the Widow of Zarephath came to mind (I Kings 17: 7 – 16).  While Elijah was on the run from King Arab, there was a famine in the land, but God told him to go find the Widow and ask her for food.  The Widow was about to use the last of her food to feed herself and her son when Elijah showed up asking for help.  Considering her circumstances, you would think that Elijah would be ashamed to ask this poor woman for help, but because God had instructed him to find her and ask her, he didn’t hesitate.  The woman gave freely to Elijah, and she was blessed by God with an unending supply of food until the famine was over. 

            I can’t help but think about what might have happened to that Widow and her son if Elijah had not asked for help.  The same is true for us.  When we refuse to ask for help, we deprive others of unknown blessings.  I can’t tell you what blessings my “drivers” may have received by going out of their way to get me to various appointments, but I certainly enjoyed the conversations and the extra time that we had together.  They were a blessing to me.

            I Corinthians 1: 3 – 7 tells us that sometimes we endure hardships so that we can be a blessing or comfort to someone going through a similar hardship.  I’ve seen that comfort in action several times as widows comfort women who have recently lost their husbands, as cancer survivors reach out to those who have received a cancer diagnosis, and as parents who have survived the teenage years counsel the parents of new teens. 

            Proverbs 11: 25 says it like this, “A generous man will prosper; he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed” (NIV84). Paul tells us in Acts that it is more blessed to give than receive (Acts 20: 35), and he explains that further in Galatians 6: 9, “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up” (NIV84).

            There is no weakness in asking for help.  In fact, our refusal to allow others to help us in our time of need may deprive them of blessings beyond measure.  It may also deprive them of the opportunity to show that same kind of blessing to someone else when they have a need.

            Independence is not always a good thing.  As fellow Christians, we must encourage and lift each other up.  Don’t be afraid to reach out to someone when you need help.  You will be blessed and hopefully, so will they.

            “Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work:  If one falls down, his friend can help him up.  But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up! (Ecclesiastes 4: 9, 10 NIV84).