Helpless But Not Hopeless
God’s Response to our Call for Help
Psalm 18
Do you know the chorus of this old hymn?
“Love lifted me,
Love lifted me,
When nothing else could help,
Love lifted me.”
Whenever I hear it, a grateful remembrance floods through me. God used this song, along with a childhood trauma, to teach me the lesson of helplessness and reveal my deepest need.
Helpless in the Waves
The day it happened, the ocean waves rolled toward the beach in sleepy rhythm. The lazy swells rose just high enough for a seven-year-old to jump up and avoid the eye-stinging seawater. Under the Florida blue sky, my parents watched and relaxed on beach towels in the hot sunshine. My younger sister sat at the surf’s edge, building drippy sandcastles decorated with tiny shells. After helping her a bit, I romped into the ocean to cool off. I remembered the rules set by my father: “never go beyond waist deep or turn your back to the ocean.” As a former navy sailor, he preached respect for the unpredictable power of the sea.
“I realized my father had grabbed me and clutched me to his chest, striding forcefully out of the surf.”
Happily bobbing up and down between the cycle of waves, I noticed a shiny blue-green bubble on the nearest crest of surf. I blinked for a second, wondering what I saw before the wave broke around my waist. Suddenly, an overpowering shock grabbed my thighs. White agony blinded me as my hands flew down, pushing away at the source. As I frantically tried to sweep slimy jolts of pain from my legs, I felt myself swooped up out of the water into the air. I realized my father had grabbed me and clutched me to his chest, striding forcefully out of the surf. When he laid me down on the damp sand, a crowd gathered in response to my screams. Anxious faces leaned over me. “She’s been stung by a Man-o-War,” someone said, “rub the tentacles off with the sand—watch out, they’ll burn you!” As they did, the pain subsided to a throbbing sting, but I slid into shock. “It’s hard to breath,” I gasped as my chest tightened.
The arriving lifeguard confirmed the potent jellyfish sting. The six-foot tentacles had injected a paralyzing toxin that constricted my breathing. “If it gets any worse, take her to the emergency room,” he advised. Burning red squiggles crisscrossed down to my knees, evidence that the jellyfish tentacles had wrapped themselves between my legs. Even my dad’s chest was red and swollen from the powerful venom where he had gripped me close to him.
My breathing difficulty gradually subsided, and my parents took me home. Later the pediatrician prescribed rest, and time provided healing. The red roadmap of burns eventually faded into white scars, reminders of panic and pain. But my father’s arms holding me close as he rescued me from danger in the dark waves remained my most vivid memory.
Rescue for the Helpless
The dread of overwhelming water appears repeatedly in Scripture. The first chapter of Genesis describes the earth as formless and empty with darkness covering the watery depths. Noah witnesses a deadly flood covering the earth. Pharoah’s army drowns as they pursue Moses and the Israelites through the Red Sea. The disciple Peter calls out as he sinks under stormy waves. God speaks through the imagery of the sea’s power in relation to the strength of humankind.
However, an encouraging story comes from a Psalm of David, one that sounds familiar to my experience. David sings of his love for the Lord who delivers him from the power of his enemies represented by the metaphor of deep water. Here is a portion:
“I called to the LORD in my distress, and I cried to my God for help. From his temple he heard my voice, and my cry to him reached his ears. He reached down from on high and took hold of me; he pulled me out of deep water. He rescued me from my powerful enemy and from those who hated me, for they were too strong for me.” (Psalm 18:6, 16-17)
“As a tidal wave of emotions sweep over us, we frantically scramble to escape our pain or find a lifeline.”
David expresses a desperate need far beyond his strength and ability. We can relate. When sinking under waves of adversity or devastating circumstances, the image of drowning in watery depths fits our rising panic. With no footing to stand on, surrounded by trouble, and fear of the unknown—the threat of danger overwhelms our capabilities. As a tidal wave of emotions sweep over us, we frantically scramble to escape our pain or find a lifeline.
Diving Deeper
David voices our helplessness, but he also points to our salvation. These verses reassure us that God hears our cries in times of trouble. But even more, we discover a reminder of God’s response to humankind’s deepest abyss: the problem of lostness in sin.
“He reached down from on high…”
In response to our cries of hopelessness, God descends to us in our human experience of a world gone wrong. He sends Jesus to the rescue.
“…and took hold of me;”
Jesus takes us out of the destructive power of sin because we cannot remove ourselves.
“…he pulled me out of deep water.”
The word for water here describes the deepest depths, the covering of the abyss. It refers to the same place covered in Genesis before God brought light and life—the place of chaos and darkness.
“He rescued me from my powerful enemy…for they were too strong for me.”
Ever tightening chains of destructive consequences wrap around us when we separate ourselves from God’s care. The enemy far exceeds our ability to escape by our own strength. But when we cry out to God, he delivers us.
Finding this deeper meaning within David’s Psalm undergirds our hope and faith with unconquerable assurance. If God can rescue us from the power of sin, he can rescue us from anything.
David concludes his tribute with the final encouragement of God’s motive: “…he rescued me because he delighted in me.” (Psalm 18:19b) (Emphasis added.) We don’t have to negotiate or bargain with God, love moves him.
A Deeper Rescue
One Sunday morning, while our beach-town church sung the hymn “Love Lifted Me,” I began to weep.
“I was sinking deep in sin,
Far from the peaceful shore,
Very deeply stained within,
Sinking to rise no more;
But the Master of the sea
Heard my despairing cry,
From the waters lifted me–
Now safe am I.”
I remembered my struggle in the dark waves, desperate for rescue. As God spoke to me through the lyrics, I suddenly recognized the drowning depth of my sin. I had refused to let the God who created me to lead me. I had rejected following the God who delighted in me. Sinking under the weight of guilt and regret, I felt helpless. Holding only a broken will, I hoped God would accept my sorrow and hear my despairing cry.
In the same way my dad raced into the waves to sweep me away from danger, I felt God swooping down to grab me from my helplessness. With the greatest love I will ever know, God lifted me out of my sin and wrapped his arms around me. Jesus took the potent sting of sin’s death upon himself. I only had to call out to him. When nothing else could help, grace lifted me. Love lifted me.
Will you call on God for help in the place you are overwhelmed?
Source Note: Rowe, James. “Love Lifted Me.” 1912.
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