God Helps Only Needy People Today's Three-minute Bible Study Print, Study and Apply Title: God Helps Only Needy People-------------------------- Date: 6/5/2001 Keywords: "desperation" Welcome to eXXit, the web site designed to help you stand strong in the face of sexual temptation. Passage: Psalm 18:27-29* 27. For Thou dost save an afflicted people; but haughty eyes Thou dost abase. 28. For Thou dost light my lamp; the LORD my God illumines my darkness. 29. For by Thee I can run upon a troop; and by my God I can leap over a wall. Questions 1. According to these verses, what kind of person does God save/deliver?   2. What does God do with the darkness in a person’s life?   3. What is the trusting person able to accomplish with the help of God?   Practical help Notice the contrast in verse 27: afflicted versus haughty. If you have surfed to eXXit, thinking that you’ve got life wired, can handle everything on your own, and "have it all together" — God won’t be much use to you. That would be a "haughty," attitude which God rewards by abasing. He helps only the needy (which, if you and I are honest, is each one of us). If you recognize that porn is a temptation you can’t resist without help and that smut is such a problem in your life that you might even call it an "affliction," then Psalm 18 has good news for you. God will deliver you. He will shine light on the darkness of your affliction and will give you victory. The beginning point, though, is to admit that you need His help. As Jesus said, "Blessed are the poor in spirit" (those who know that they are spiritually bankrupt and need God) "for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven" (Matthew 5:2). People in need of deliverance from porn have discovered that the most powerful words they can utter are: "Lord Jesus, help me!" He doesn’t necessarily take away all temptation. We’ve still got to fight that troop of porn sites and leap over that wall of temptation (verse 29), but God delivers the man or woman who cries out to Him for strength and victory. eXXit homepage Index of three-minute studies Copyright 2001 by eXXit *"Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, © Copyright The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995. Used by permission."