Ever since my son Oriah was born 7 months ago, I am learning a lot about our relationship with our Heavenly Father and also about the way we are functioning as human beings.

The other day Oriah was playing on the carpet at home. While he was playing, he looked at the couch and started to move himself toward it. It wasn’t long after that Oriah arrived to the corner of the couch when he got stuck and could not move. After trying to fight it a little bit on his own, he started crying and screamed for help. Throughout the whole process I was standing and watching him waiting to see what he would do. After he started crying and looked for help I came and held him in my arms again.

That made me think about us as followers of Messiah: how often do we focus on something that is a “corner” in our lives and once we get there, we find ourselves stuck in it?

We try to fight it with our own strength and get nowhere. We continue to do so and get stressed out and frustrated. After a while we start to cry and then we scream for help. Throughout the whole time our Helper is right there waiting for us to call Him for help and as soon as we do he provides us with a way out.

As the week continued Oriah did the same thing again and again and Melissa and I came to help him each time he got stuck. I hope that as Oriah grows he will learn not to go to this corner because he will get stuck again but I am sure that he will get stuck in other places and will look for our help.

Again, this brings me to look at us, followers of the Messiah. How often do we as followers of the Messiah bring ourselves to the same corners again and again and how often do we get stuck there? We try to do it our way and only when we can’t do it we call for our Father’s help.

I sometimes wonder if we ever grow and learn from our past mistakes and experiences so as to not go back to the same place where we will get stuck again. But it is comforting to know that if we do get “stuck”, God is waiting for us to call on His name. Just like I stood and watched Oriah trying to do it with his own power and as soon as he called for help I came and helped him. In the same way our Heavenly Father is standing right beside us waiting for us to seek His face and call on His name for help, and our God is faithful as He promised to never leave us nor forsake us.

Psa. 121:0 ¶ A song of ascents.
Psa. 121:1 ¶ I lift up my eyes to the hills — where does my help come from?
Psa. 121:2 My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth.
Psa. 121:3 He will not let your foot slip — he who watches over you will not slumber;
Psa. 121:4 indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.
Psa. 121:5 The LORD watches over you — the LORD is your shade at your right hand;
Psa. 121:6 the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night.
Psa. 121:7 The LORD will keep you from all harm — he will watch over your life;
Psa. 121:8 the LORD will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.

Our God is faithful to His promises and just as He never left the children of Israel, and each time they were “stuck” and called upon His name, He came to their rescue, so it is for us as His followers.