Psalm 40:17
But I am poor and needy; yet the Lord thinketh upon me: thou art my help and my deliverer; make no tarrying, O my God.

This world can do a number on us.  The world can beat us down.  Indeed, in the grand scheme of things, we are nothing and are counted as nothing.  Our small lives are but vanity.  We are not strong or mighty.  We are not rich or well-known.  We are not special.  What a lowly state we find ourselves in.  And how often we can be reminded of our own worthlessness by others or even our own selves.  But still, in that state, the Lord thinks upon us.

And so if the Lord’s thoughts are toward us just now, in our smallness and weakness, then He can help us.  It is He who must deliver if we have any hope at all.  So let us echo David’s cry to the Lord, for we have no other to call upon.  We look around and find emptiness.  We listen, but there is only silence.  We cry out, but there is none to answer.  And just when we might get to the lowest point and begin to despair, our minds can grasp this one truth that can give us much hope—the Lord is near, and He is thinking upon us, and He hears our cries, and then He can help us.  We may feel we don’t deserve God’s mercy, but we must know that He is gracious enough to give it.

How can it be that He would want to know us, especially because He sees our hearts and they are not always pure?  How can it be that He would think upon us and intercede in our small worlds?  How could the God of heaven, so magnified in His greatness and glory, unmatched in splendor, even consider us at all?  We cannot descend to the depths of that kind of love.  We can hardly understand the smallest bit of it.  But His Word declares it, so it must be true.  It is true.  So may our loving Father make it true in each of our hearts.  May He dig up a place and plant it there to grow and take root within us so that it might blossom forth into the rest of our lives.

The truth is, we are needy.  We need God’s love and His grace, His mercy and kindness, His presence and His help.  We need to know Him better and trust Him more.  We need to seek His face and then go forth in obedience.  We need His strength and we need His truth.  And when our gaze is fixed upon Him, when we’re done trusting in ourselves and trying to go it alone, He goes forth quickly to our aid.  He delivers and He does so completely.  So may we know that no matter what state we may find ourselves in, our Lord is thinking upon us, ready and able to help.