Old Testament                                        

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God does not ignore those who cry to Him for help. (Psalm 9:12)  ​

God will be gracious if you ask for help.  He will respond to the sound of your cries. (Isaiah 30:19) 

Commit everything you do to the Lord.  Trust Him, and He will help you. (Psalm 37:5) 

God will not forget to help you. (Isaiah 44:21) 

Great is the Lord, who enjoys helping His servant. (Psalm 35:27)

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Cowboys are tough, and can endure much, we like being our own person, doing it our own way.  However, our strong independent attitudes can hinder our Christian walk. God did not put us in this world to tough it out on our own—He wants to help us.  He doesn’t want to help us with just the big things that we think we can’t handle, He wants to help us with everything.  He wants us to be strong—but the strength comes from our dependence upon Him.

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Rodeo cowboys spend much time figuring how to have an advantage in the arena so they can win.  Just consider this, how much of an advantage does it have to be with the all powerful, all knowing, all present God, helping us everywhere in everything.  In all of your figuring on advantages in life, have you truly considered the advantage of letting God be more than your cheerleader, but letting Him be your coach.  Coaches help their players to be the best they can be—to be winners.  God cares about our rodeo competition but God’s winning goals for cowboys are in the arena of life.  Without God’s help no one will be the best they were created to be.

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In the book of Isaiah God pleads with His people many times to let Him help them.  But they refused.  Refusing help was not their only sin.  Here are some of the sins listed in Isaiah that God was angry with.

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They trusted humans instead of God (Isaiah 2:22); ​

they spoke out against God (3:8); ​

the leaders had taken advantage of the people; they twisted God’s laws (24:4); ​

the people had grown tired of God (47:10); ​

they thought they were too smart for God (47:10); ​

they were stubborn and obstinate (48:4); ​

they were involved in magic and divination (47:12-13); ​

they were pleasure crazy (47:8); ​

they were murderers, liars, and cheaters, with violence as their trademark (59:2-6).  ​

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And God was angry with the hypocrisy of the people (9:17); ​

their worship of God amounted to nothing more than human laws learned by rote (29:13-14); ​

behind closed doors they worshiped idols instead of God (57:8); ​

they loved to make a show of coming to God (58:2); ​

and they did ‘churchy’ things but were really living for themselves (58:3). ​

They deliberately sinned choosing to do what God despised (65:11-12).

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Isaiah 1:19-20 says, “if you will only obey Me and let Me help you, then you will have plenty to eat.  But if you keep turning away and refusing to listen, you will be destroyed by your enemies.”  Many people did not repent and God carried through with his threats—Judah was taken into captivity and the civilizations that Isaiah warned were destroyed.

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The Christian religion is based on faith in Jesus Christ not our performance in life.  If we carefully study the Bible we see woven throughout it, that the love of God and others, trust in God, and believing in Jesus Christ are the major points.  Listening to God, repenting of sin, and asking God for help are other key points.  Obedience in our heart to these faith building qualities should be our priority.  All of the sins pointed out by Isaiah can be linked to a failure to have one or more of these faith builders.

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People have said they are so bad that they have no choice—God would never accept them—destruction is their destiny. This is wrong information about God and how He works.  Badness will separate you from God but it doesn’t have to be a permanent.  What keeps us from God is our refusal to repent of our sins and hard headed pride.  God wants to help and bless; we mess our lives up because we deliberately turn from God.

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Isaiah 1:27-28 says, “Because the Lord is just and righteous, the repentant people of Jerusalem will be redeemed.  But all sinners will be completely destroyed, FOR THEY REFUSE TO COME TO THE LORD."

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Isaiah 66:2-3 says, “I, the Lord, have spoken!  I will bless those who have humble and contrite hearts, who tremble at my word.  But those who choose their own ways, delighting in their sins, are cursed.” God doesn’t reject us, but we may reject God because we think we are too smart, too tough, too bad, or too cool.  As long as we refuse to ask God for Help we will be stripped of the storehouse of good things He wants to lavish on us.  God waits for each of us to come to Him.

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In Isaiah 30:18-19 we read, “But the Lord still waits for you to come to him so he can show you his love, and compassion.  For the Lord is a faithful God.  Blessed are those who wait for Him to HELP them.   He will be gracious if you ask for help.  He will respond instantly to the sound of your cries.” 

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Let’s make these verses our verses, let’s come to Jesus Christ with repentant, humble hearts and let Him show us His love and compassion.  He will bless us if we will only wait for Him to help.

Isaiah