“Our help is in the name of the LORD, who made heaven and earth” (Psalm 124:8).

On the front page of the Gideon Bible, found in almost every hotel room, is a list of Scripture verses arranged to provide “Help in Time of Need,” listed under various sub-headings: “Comfort in Time of Sorrow”; “Relief in Time of Suffering”; “Guidance in Time of Decision”; and a number of others. Many a discouraged traveler has indeed found the help he needed by looking up the suggested verses (even the page numbers are given!) and meditating on them. It would be a good exercise for every believer, the next time he or she is in a hotel room, to study all these verses, selected as appropriate answers to many of our human needs.

God’s word is like that. “For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope” (Romans 15:4). Whatever the need in one’s life may be, the Bible provides an answer to meet that need. As the Apostle Paul testified just before his martyrdom, “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable: . . . That the man of God may be perfect . . .” (II Timothy 3:16,17). All we need until the Lord returns, He has provided through His written word.

His word, for example, assures us that He “who made heaven and earth,” as our text affirms, is well able to be “our help” in the little things that affect our lives. The word also assures us that, even though He is the mighty Creator of all things, He is “not far from every one of us” (Acts 17:27), so He can hear our prayers, wherever we are and whatever our circumstances.

“Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:16). HMM