Helpless
Scripture Reading: Ezekiel 16:1-14
I sit in the backseat, still sporting the maternity clothes, my newborn baby girl beside me in her car seat. No doubt she’s screaming, the acid reflux unknown to the newbie parents, working its way up her delicate throat causing her to cry most hours of the day. The in-laws are up front and we are driving around Homewood, picking up newborn necessities. As we pass the Starbucks, I timidly ask from the backseat to be let out to buy a latte. A grande non-fat sugar free vanilla latte to be exact. In purchasing this cozy drink I will engage in ritual making things appear normal again, not this foreign, newborn colic, sleep deprived new mommy world I’m currently experiencing. My father-in-law pulls over on the side of the road opposite Starbucks and I jump out, readying myself for the familiar scent of coffee brewing and the noise of milk frothing when I hesitate for just one moment. Freeze in my tracks before crossing the street. What if a car speeds around the corner and I get hit? How will she eat? She’ll starve. She needs me! Mother’s instinct. I glance in the backseat and then make a run for it. There’s formula, for goodness sakes. I’m just getting a coffee, not abandoning her to wolves. But it’s there, the instinctual mother drive to protect my helpless one, my newborn baby girl.
When I open my Bible to read Ezekiel 16 I find an analogous instinct. Yet this is no imagined scenario of a sleep deprived mommy. The circumstances are desperate, the story grim, and the threat genuine. There’s a newborn baby but this baby is abandoned, lying in a pool of its own blood, left to die in an open field. Though it kicks and cries desperately, no one has compassion on this precious life. The wretched babies’ circumstances are hopeless. She can do nothing to help herself and there’s not much time left. Then He passes by. He sees her and does what she could not do for herself, He saves her. Scoops her up. Breathes life into her. Wills her to live. And because her Savior is the Creator God of the world and because He loves her, He lavishes her with riches, splendor, and beauty (Ezekiel 16).
That newborn babe lying abandoned in an open field? Covered in its own blood? Flailing and kicking in horrendous circumstances? That newborn baby is you and me, our spiritual condition no better off than her desperate plight (Romans 6:23, Ephesians 2:1). Praise God that He passes by and sees us in our helpless state (Romans 5:6-8)! If we allow Him, He will breathe life into us (Romans 4:17b), purify us from our bloody, sinful state (1 John 1:9, Titus 3:4), and will walk alongside us to the end of our days (Matthew 28:20). Even though I am confident I belong to Him (Galatians 4:6-7) and that He chose me (Ephesians 1:4-5), I still fall prey to feelings of helplessness (enter ludicrous fear of latte induced starvation of newborn) and sins that threaten to entangle. When feeling feeble I will call on Him. For you see, He is “the Lord, my God, who takes hold of my right hand and says to me, Do not fear; I will help you. (Isaiah 41:13).” I may be helpless, but He’s more than enough for me (1 Corinthians 1:27-31, Philippians 3:8).
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