When Helping Others – Turn and Keep Your Eyes Upon Jesus 

By Bethany Riehl 

“Oh, magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt His name together!” – Psalm 34:3 

Recently a friend shared that in her mentoring of a group of young women, she was feeling a bit overwhelmed. Their problems and their interests are big, painful, and worldly. She confessed that she wasn’t sure she was equipped to help. 

Do you ever feel this way? I know I do. I have had many friends and family members enduring what felt like insurmountable trials and all I had to offer was a shoulder and what I knew of the Lord. And sometimes I walked right into the sin of believing that wasn’t enough. I wanted to be able to fix them, to point them to just the right article or bring them the right gift at the right time to make them feel loved and seen. 

My focus was on me and what I could do to carry them through, on what wisdom I could impart. 

A few months ago, I read a book written by a biblical counselor and I squirmed in my seat as he described a young woman that came to him for counsel. She had the worst story I’d ever heard. Abuse and betrayal as a child, followed by her own years of promiscuity and sin as an adult. I wondered how anyone could actually give her hope for her shredded life. When I read how the biblical counselor helped her, I was ashamed of myself for wondering. 

He magnified Christ. 

He systematically walked this broken woman through the attributes of God; walked her out of her despair and into the arms of the Savior. Jesus didn’t come to make “broken things beautiful,” He came to raise the dead to life, and that is more powerful than any hug or Christ-less encouragement that we can offer the downtrodden. 

If for some reason this sounds cold or distant, let me encourage you: we can’t magnify Christ without being compassionate and gracious. That is who He is and we cannot truly point someone to Jesus without a heart of compassion and love. If you need a quick snapshot of Christ’s power to save, read Mark 5 for three stories of Him saving people from unfathomable circumstances. Take note of the mercy He has on each person as He sets things right. 

A.W. Tozer said, “…the most portentous fact about any man is not what he at a given time may say or do, but what he in his deep heart conceives God to be like.” 

Fortunately for us, God told us exactly what He is like and what we should believe about Him. In Exodus 34 Moses asks God to show him His glory. God responds that no man can see His face and live, but that He would hide Moses in the cleft of the rock, cover the rock with His hand, and pass by, allowing Moses to see His back. The moment is worthy of awe. 

“Then the LORD passed by in front of him and proclaimed, ‘The LORD, the LORD God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness and truth; who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished; visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations.” 

Moses made haste to bow low toward the earth and worship (Exodus 34: 6-8). 

As one pastor said, our God not only possesses love and truth, He abounds in it. 

What else do we have to offer but Christ? 

If you know someone on the right side of a conflict, they don’t need affirmation that they’re right; they need to hear that God sees (Genesis 16:13). 

If you know someone working through the memories of an unstable childhood, you can encourage them with God’s eternity – He is everlasting. The same yesterday, today, and tomorrow (Hebrews 13:8). 

If someone has been abandoned by their spouse, encourage with this promise: God never leaves His children (Hebrews 13:5, Matthew 28:20). 

He is omniscient (He possesses perfect knowledge); how comforting that can be as we pray to Him for guidance in an election year (James 1)? 

He is sovereign; nothing comes into our lives that has not passed through His hand and all that He does is for our good and His glory – even the hard stuff that we can’t understand belongs to Him. 

He is omnipresent – what a comfort that is to the lonely! 

He is perfect in holiness – He will never sin. 

This world, it can feel like a slog, no? But where are our eyes pointed? That’s what will help us walk upright in the slog. 

I recently had the opportunity to hire a trainer for our new family dog, Frenchy. Frenchy had already been trained, but I didn’t know her commands and she didn’t even think to listen to me on walks. She was excited and distracted by everything around us and was so caught up in tracking smells (did I mention she’s a lab?) on the ground, she didn’t even remember I was there. When she finally knocked me off my feet trying to visit a Golden Retriever on the other side of the road, I decided not to walk her again until we went through training. 

The first lesson surprised me in its simplicity: she had to learn to look at me. I sat on the couch at first with a treat behind my back, and when she could hold eye-to-eye contact for an appropriate amount of time, she got the treat. 

We practiced in increasingly hard settings until we both mastered this, and now if she’s getting too excited on a walk, or I need her attention, I tell her to look at me. She stares into my eyes until the distraction has passed or she calms down, and then we can go on our way. 

Each time I do this, I can’t help but think of the many admonitions in Scripture to seek God’s face (2 Chronicles 7:14, Psalm 27:8, Hosea 5:15, just to name a few). 

All of our satisfaction can and should be found in the Lord. Our every need is provided by Him. If we seek Him and His kingdom first, knowing that all things come from His hand, every other earthly joy is simply a pretty decoration on a fully iced cake. 

Each time I’ve been overwhelmed or dumbfounded about how to help someone in need, I’ve been able to take another look and realize that it’s because I’m magnifying myself or their trial instead of Christ. Not only is that meaningless, but it’s also wicked. 

When we magnify Christ – His love, His truth, His attributes – we find all the answers we need for any situation. 

If you need help this season, training your eyes to be fixed on Him, I encourage you to memorize Scripture. Psalm 145 is an excellent place to start. 

God rest ye, merry, my friends. Our Savior has come, and He is walking us through this life. Our eyes fixed on His is the best way to walk with assurance and peace. 

 

Bethany Riehl lives in the Treasure Valley with her husband, three kids, and a dog. She writes articles and fictional novels when she can, and her one desire is to point others to the love and sufficiency of Jesus Christ.