Helpless?

Psalm 107:12
Therefore he brought down their heart with labour (Strong’s H5999 amal-toil); they fell down, and there was none to help.

You know, the Israelites were a proud bunch of people, to the point of flaunting their arrogance before God (Exodus 19:8). So what did He do? He gave them the Law, not so they could prove to Him how good they could be, but so that God could prove to them how flawed they really were. The fact was this: Israel was being blessed, delivered, and prospered by God without Law in their lives and instead of accepting their grace-filled status with God, the people chose to have a merit-based system by which they were continually proven to be not worthy!

God gave them His requirements for holiness, which they were not able to keep. His Law did nothing but place the burden of becoming holy on the people. As a result they became distraught and dismayed. The harder they worked, the more they failed. There was no one to help them; the Law was set in stone and could not bend. A year of doing good, containing just one single moment of indiscretion, would still lead to sin and condemnation. There was no hope, no freedom.

They thought they had it bad in Egypt being physical slaves to Pharaoh, but now they were spiritual slaves to God’s Law. Their daily sacrifices, purification ceremonies, and priestly routines only served to further their indebtedness to God. The harder they tried to be holy, the more they failed miserably. Why? Because the Law itself gives strength to sin and sinful desires (1 Corinthians 15:56). It is divinely designed to show imperfections and the need for a Savior (Galatians 3:24-25). But there was no one to help them, not yet anyway...

Then it happened: Jesus Christ was born and salvation has come. He lived a perfect life under the perfect Law and never failed to keep it perfectly. And, unlike the stone tablets that don’t bend, that can’t help, Christ made every day of His human existence all about help. He raised the dead, healed the sick, made the lame walk, the blind see, and the deaf hear. He fed the hungry. He saved the condemned from stoning and blessed everyone He came in contact with.

Christ came to fulfill the Law and save all of humanity from its reign over our lives. He came to give us the help that was so desperately desired under Law. He voluntarily took our burdens, that is, our spiritual need to fulfill every jot and tittle of the Law to be right with God, and in return gave us His perfection (2 Corinthians 5:21). He did all of these things out of the love in His heart and the Grace in His mind. There is nothing that we can do aside from accept that it is finished according to His words on the cross and live a productive, grace-filled life based on His unmerited favor!

I can’t put it any better than the way Jesus Himself said it.

Matthew 11:28
Come unto me, all ye that labour (Strong’s G2872 kopiao-toil) and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.