Help, Hope, and Happiness

I really struggled today after waking up from a nap this afternoon. A wave of discouragement came over me when I tried to get to my dining room chair. It was difficult to get there as it has so many other times in the past, but this afternoon, I felt oppressed by discouragement and hopelessness. I was near to the point of sorrow when I asked God if He cares and if He is present in our hardship. The title of this chapter seems so timely and needed for me today.
"I was paging through an old Bible of mine one day and discovered a note I had written in the margin on August 13, 1957. At that time I was sharing an evangelistic mission in Denmark, and the going was reallv tough. The verse I had marked was Psalm 146:5: "Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord) his God." I'm sure that verse gave me great encouragement for that day, because it promises everything that the Christian needs--help, hope, and happiness. This verse is like those charts on the back of cereal boxes that list the minimum daily requirements for health. Here we have the minimum daily requirements for spiritual health- help, hope, and happiness." (p. 104).
I never heard that phrase before. The minimum daily requirements for spiritual health. If that is the case about spiritual health, than today, I have no help, no hope, and no happiness. I guess you can say that I am doing very poor in terms of spiritual health today. When our hope is in the Lord, we should be happy. It is not like I have been ignoring God. I have prayed more, and meditated on more Scripture this month than I did the first three months of this year. Yet, my level of hope comes and goes. Often my prayer time and happiness is highest in the morning. Now, it is late afternoon and I am oppressed with hopelessness.
"But there is One whose help is far above all, and that One is the God of Jacob. God can do for us what nobody else can do. Psalm 46:1 tells us that God is "a very present help in trouble." The psalmist said, "My help cometh from the Loan, which made heaven and earth" (Ps. 121:2). You and I trust people, yet people fail us; and we sometimes fail others. But when we put our trust in the Lord, He gives the kind of help that never fails.
God is called here "the God of Jacob," and this is a great encouragement to me because Jacob was always needing help. When he tricked his brother and father and had to leave home, Jacob was all alone in an unfriendly world. Yet God protected him and directed him and met his every need. When other men tried to hurt Jacob, God stepped in to shelter him. God fulfilled His purposes for Jacob and made him the father of the tribes of Israel. Jacob was sometimes a disobedient man, but God still helped him and saw him through.
So here is a word of encouragement for us today: The God of Jacob is our help. Hebrews 13:6 reads, "The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me." Cast your burden on the Lord, and by faith, receive the help that He alone can give. "God is our refuge and strength, a ever present help in trouble." (p. 105).
I never thought of God of Jacob in that same way. Who is the God of Jacob. I only was thinking that since Jacob was the father of the Israelites, this term was simply pointing out to the God who we know as YHWH. But, this personalizes it a bit. Jacob saw God's help in times of danger many times. I think of when he fled his home because his brother wanted to kill him or when he fled his father-in-law or the time when he received news of his brother with a multitude of men coming to meet him. Yes, Jacob knew what it meant to face danger but God delivered him out of all his troubles. He died an old man who walked with God and saw the births of his grandchildren. In the same way, I know that God has gotten me through so many things and several times from death itself. Why then is it so hard to think God is going to help in this present circumstance?
"When you know Jesus Christ, you always have hope. Paul tells us that Jesus Christ is our hope! To the Christian, hope is not a mirage or a blind optimism. Our hope in Christ is a certainty. Hebrews 6:19 tells us that our hope in Christ is an anchor. And that anchor will never slip or never fail. The Christian "rejoices in hope" because he knows that the future is secure in Christ.
Our hope in Christ is based on the Word of God, the Bible. Because we trust His promises, we experience His hope. No matter how dark the day may become, we still have the light of His Word to encourage us. Ferdinand Magellan took thirty-five compasses with him when he started on his voyage around the world. A ship without a compass is doomed--and so is a life without hope. The Word of God is the light that encourages us and the compass that guides us.
Of course, if you have never trusted Christ as your Savior, you have no hope. It is only when you surrender to Him that hope comes into your heart. The Christian never has to lose hope because he has a Savior to walk with him into the future. Even when you walk through the valley of the shadow of death you will not be afraid, because Jesus will be right there with you. When you know Him, you have help and you have hope, so that the present and the future are all taken care of." (p. 106).
Help is about the present. Hope is about the future. Yet, I don't fully sense this. I think hope also is about the present. Yes, the Bible is our compass. We Christians know where we are going. We have the promises of hope in the life after. For the believer, heaven is a certainty and the hope of it. Yet a weakness of this author as I am noticing is that he does not really offer much in terms of the present moment. Yes, heaven needs to be on our minds, but I don't really see how heaven makes our present moment any better. Hope needs to be available now for our present circumstance.
"What is it you need right now? Do you need help? "Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help..." says Psalm 146:5, Do you need hope? "Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the LORD his God." And when you have God's help and hope, you will experience His happiness as well, You will have help for today and hope for tomorrow because you trust Christ; and you will have happiness in your heart as a blessed by-product of God's grace." (p. 107).
Prayer:
Father, I am really struggling today. I am really struggling with hope today. As such, I really struggle with happiness. When our hope is in You we have happiness. I see how You helped Jacob and I see how You have helped me in the past, but why is it so hard to see Your help and hope now, in this season of my life? Right now, it feels so much like You do not care. It seems so much like You are absent and I feel forgotten by You. Yet, their are instances like today when You show me that You hear. You know how I have been praying for a Bill Johnson faith, a personal, intimate, and supernatural faith, a faith of power, boldness, fruitfullness, and intimacy with You. I have not read the paper in so long, and there right in the New York Times today was the runner from Bill Johnson's church. Somehow, some way, You are present in my life, You know my thoughts, desires, and hopes, but yet I feel so abandoned and alone.  Father, I want to have hope, and to experience Your help and healing in my life. I have been so discouraged, fearful, and depressed in this season and want victory over this darkness. Dear Lord Jesus, please reach out with Your restoring, liberating, and healing touch.