Let Me Help You

 

Carry each other’s burdens and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.

—Galatians 6:2

I have always lived a very independent life. I suppose this began in childhood. As an only adopted child who lived in a neighborhood where no other children lived, I became quite used to doing things for myself.

The last twenty-eight years of my life have become quite a struggle, as increasingly I have lost the ability to do most things for myself. But, the beauty of my infirmity rests in the fact that God has given me this blessing, so that I would learn to appreciate the loving care that I receive from others. So, the verse at the beginning of this blog post has come to mean so very much to me, even though I am always the one on the receiving end of the burden bearing of others.

The hardest part for me, as I try to learn how best to depend on the burden bearing of others, has come from the frustration I feel when I cannot do things for myself that, for most of my life, I did mostly without even thinking about a particular task. Please let me explain through this illustration:

Several years ago, the church I attend moved from our previous location at a hotel meeting room to a different building. The church I attend began to rent space from another congregation whose service times fall earlier on Sunday morning, giving our church the ability to hold services at a more normal time frame, just before noon. In setting up our sound system during a work day, I became very frustrated and my frustration gave those around me the false impression that I was angry.

Our sound equipment resides in a large professional equipment case. The case contains four wireless microphone receivers, the sound system 18-channel mixing engine, and a digital recorder. At this new location, we plugged the output from the equipment in this case into one of the normally unused inputs of the existing church’s sound system. This allowed us to use our normal equipment without disturbing the equipment setup used by the existing church.

A problem arose when no one present during our workday knew how to turn on the power to, and operate the controls of, the existing church’s sound system. The power switch, controls, and mixing board for that system exist on a raised platform at the rear of the sanctuary.

If I had been able to climb the two steps up onto that platform, because of my 72 years of working with professional sound system equipment, I would have known exactly what to do to turn the existing system on and how to set the controls so our sound system would operate properly through that existing system.

But, I can’t climb stairs—even two short steps. In trying to explain to someone else what he needed to do, my frustration with myself came out in a way that offended a third person who was present.

When I was told how I had annoyed and offended the other person, I was heartbroken. I had never intended my frustration with myself to cause harm to someone else. I was ashamed and immediately placed a telephone call to the offended person in order to apologize. Fortunately that individual very graciously received my apology.

You see, the hardest thing for me to do is to contain my frustration with myself, so that I don’t cause others to feel offended. Far too often, people perceive my frustration with myself as anger. They don’t realize that I am not angry—I am only frustrated with my inability to do the kinds of things that, in the past, I have always been able to do without help from anyone else.

I have to coach myself in every situation to not allow my frustration with myself to cause harm. In other words, part of allowing others to bear my burdens requires me to accept their burden bearing with grace and gratitude. Instead of frustration with my inability to do things for myself, I must learn how to experience the joy that God intends when someone willingly extends their help to me.

Burden bearing comes alive as a two-way street. The one who gladly gives of himself or herself in order to bear the burden of another fulfills the law of Christ. At the same time, the one whose burden is borne by another must also humbly and thankfully receive that burden bearing as the true gift from God that it is.

I’m trying very hard to learn this important lesson. Perhaps in sharing my own struggle with you, it will help you to view the subject of burden bearing in a new way. At least that is my fondest hope for this particular blog post.

 

_{Copyright © 2026 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

The Best Desire

 

I desire to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart.

—Psalm 40:8

Have you ever wanted to do something so much that the desire consumed you? I have. Please let me explain:

Beginning in seventh grade and extending all the way through high school graduation, the President’s Council on Physical Fitness required all teenagers to endure physical education class five days a week throughout the school year. That 50-minute long period each day always represented the most miserable time of the day for me.

In those long ago days, if some advertising agency ever needed the perfect example of someone whose person physical fitness hovered near zero, I could easily meet that need. I can imagine the poster or television commercial advertisement that ad agency might make:

“Want to live as long as possible? Don’t be like this fat slob! Go to the gym and become physically fit and you will live a long and fruitful life!”

In any case, during all six of those torturous years, I longed to wake up some morning with a new body, new strength, new innate ability, and a new attitude. I dreamed of becoming transformed from “Mr. Fat Slob” to “Mr. Handome Athlete.” I could almost feel the change in people’s outlooks towards me. Where once they laughed at my inability to accomplish the tasks required of those who were physically fit, I now had moved to the top of the chart. Football? Basketball? Softball? Gymnastics? I had become a star.

You may argue that had I really wanted to achieve all of that I could have done so. But, I didn’t and I couldn’t. I remained the fat slob who finally arrived back at the starting point twenty minutes after all of the other cross country runners had completed the race.

In the Scripture verse at the beginning of this blog post, King David expresses his overwhelming desire to do God’s will and also describes the solution to achieving that goal in a very few words. David shares that he is consumed with a desire to become obedient to doing what God wants David to do. And, David expresses his understanding of the way to achieve his great desire: to keep God’s law within his heart.

As followers of Jesus, David’s desire should become our desire. David’s solution to reaching the goal expressed by his desire should become our pathway in life. Just as David learns how to become one who does the will of God by keeping God’s law within his heart, so we should learn how to become obedient servants of God by keeping the truth of His written Word, the Bible, within the very core of our being.

The truth of God’s written Word should permeate every one of our four human modalities: heart, soul, mind, and strength— or, our emotional being, our spiritual being, our intellectual being, and our physical being. If we strive to make that desire become a reality, we will achieve the same kind of peace that King David achieved.

 

_{Copyright © 2026 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

Joy Restored

 

Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.

—Psalm 51:12

When we fall into the depths of despair, we do not need to stay in that deep, dark place. While we may often have no control over the circumstances of our lives that may drag us into the place of despair, we do have the ability to call out to God and ask Him to lift us up and out of the pit.

In the verse at the beginning of this blog post, King David finds himself in despair. Try as he might, David cannot turn the tide that rushes over him. The Prophet Nathan has come to David and disclosed that God has observed David’s sin with Bathsheba and the subsequent murder of Bathsheba’s husband. David feels mortified and consumed by sadness at the sin he has committed. David mourns over his sin. And, as a result, David falls into a place of despair.

One of the qualities that makes King David a good example for us comes to the surface when we observe David recognizing that he has a way out of despair. David calls on God to lift himself out of the pit by restoring the joy that comes from the salvation that God has provided. We can do exactly what David has done.

When we find ourselves feeling dragged downward into despair, we can bow our hearts and heads and ask God to lift us up. We can pray the same prayer that David prayed. We can ask God to restore our joy—the joy that comes when we receive the salvation that God has given us. We do not need to stay in the pit. We have a way out.

In our darkest hours, God has given us this lesson from King David. We can ask God to restore our joy and grant us a willing spirit. Our ability to face the trials of this life comes from God, who gives us the strength and fortitude to bend our human will to His perfect will. When we do that, we can again feel our joy restored.

May God remind us of what He has done for David. As Stuart Hamblen wrote so meaningfully: ¹

The chimes of time ring out the news
Another day is through
Someone slipped and fell
Was that someone you?
You may have longed for added strength
Your courage to renew
Do not be disheartened
For I have news for you

Chorus:
It is no secret what God can do
What He’s done for others
He’ll do for you
With arms wide open
He’ll pardon you
It is no secret what God can do

There is no night, for in His light
You'll never walk alone
You'll always feel at home wherever you may roam
There is no power can conquer you
While God is on your side
Take Him at His promise
Don’t run away and hide

Chorus:
It is no secret what God can do
What He’s done for others
He’ll do for you
With arms wide open
He’ll pardon you
It is no secret what God can do

 

______________________

1 Hamblen, Stuart. “It Is No Secret.” Santa Clareta, CA: Hamblen Music Co. and Duchess Music Corp., 1950.

Please note that, in each case, whenever a citation of any Copyrighted material is made within a post on this blog, such a citation is made strictly for Educational Fair Use illustration purposes only. All Rights Reserved by the original Copyright Holder.

 

_{Copyright © 2026 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

True Delight

 

Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.

—Psalm 37:4

Have you ever felt delight? Maybe you remember some time in your childhood when your parents gave you a special gift. You opened the package and felt such gratitude that a big smile of surprise creased your face and an expression of great joy escaped from your lips.

I remember one Christmas when I had asked for a very special toy. The toy was a robot sitting on top of a car. I could move the helmet on the robot’s head forward and underneath were buttons I could slide up or down in order to control the pattern the car would follow when I turned on the power switch. The robot sitting on the car was about 12-inches tall and the car was probably 7-inches wide and 15-inches long. So, this was a rather large toy.

Because we were quite poor, I later had a strong sense that my parents had saved over a very long period of time so that they could buy this toy for me. I look back on that experience from a vantage point of 72 years later with a certain amazement that my parents loved me so much that they would make such a sacrifice.

Even more, when I think back over all the days of my life, I feel enormous gratitude that God loved me so much that He sent His one and only Son, Jesus, to become a human, to suffer on the cross of Calvary, to die, and to rise again, so that in Christ”s suffering, death, resurrection, and ascension He has redeemed me—paid the penalty for my sins and given me an eternal home in heaven.

As if that great gift of God’s unfailing love was not enough, as the verse at the beginning of this blog post declares, God has taught me through the words of King David that if I delight myself in the Lord, He will give me what my heart desires.

Now I realize that this verse has a very clever meaning. On the one hand, it means exactly what it declares. But, it also indicates that if I delight in the Lord, He will place into my heart those desires that please Him.

In other words, in our obedience to God, He will transform our desires from ones that are rooted in our earthly, selfish mindsets into desires that honor Him and give Him glory. That, my dear ones, is a wonderful, wonderful reality. It is a reality in which we can and should live.

 

_{Copyright © 2026 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

Pleasing Words

 

May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.

—Psalm 19:14

Please allow me to begin this blog post with a true illustration:

More than a decade ago, back in the days when I walked with two canes, I had decided to make a rare appearance at our nearby mall. As I walked slowly through a moderately sized group of shoppers, a young woman, probably in her early twenties, stopped as she walked toward me.

“Do you realize what a fat, ugly pig you are?” she blurted out. “You should stay home and spare us from looking at your fat, horrid body and ugly face!”

As you might imagine, I was startled. The very fact that someone I didn’t know would even speak to me in such a public place was a surprise. That her words and her tone of voice held such hostility was even more startling.

I didn’t say anything to her. I just kept walking slowly toward the store I had come to the mall to visit. But, her words haunted me.

I am very well aware that I am morbidly obese. I have been extremely fat since I was a young child. I inherited an endomorphic body type from my birth mother. As I have recounted on this blog previously, I had always been told my birth mother was so obese that she was able to conceal her pregnancy from everyone until the day she gave birth. So, I come by the tendency to be fat, you might say, “naturally.” As to looking “ugly,” it certainly is true that I will never be asked to pose as a male model for a fashion magazine.

I recount this story to illustrate how powerful words can become in shaping our thinking. In fact, I should not care one bit about what some woman I do not know said about me. In fact, instead of thinking very much about it, I should dismiss her observations completely. After all, she doesn’t know me at all. Apart from the little value her words might have to use as an illustration in a blog post, what she had to say should mean nothing to me. Yet, words do have great power.

The Scripture verse, with which I opened this blog post, shares a prayer of King David found as the closing phrase in one of David’s great Psalms. As with many Psalms, this Psalm 19 comes in the form of a prayer, in which David expresses to God a desire to have God control every aspect of David’s being, including the words that come out of his mouth. Since David realizes that the words he might speak come from deep within the core of his being, David also asks God to control the meditation of his heart. In other words, David desires God to place within the depths of David’s being the thoughts, wishes, hopes, and dreams that would prove pleasing to God.

I believe this is a prayer we should take to heart. Each day during this coming week, I invite you to join me in praying this prayer. As we start each new day, let’s do so by asking God in prayer, using these words of King David from Psalm 19:14:

May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.

 

_{Copyright © 2026 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

No God But You

 

How great you are, O Sovereign Lord! There is no one like you, and there is no God but you, as we have heard with our own ears.

—2 Samuel 7:22

I once overheard this conversation between two individuals who sat next to each other on a four-hour cross-country plane ride:

“I must confess that I have never met anyone quite like you.”

“Is that so? And, is that a good thing or a bad thing?”

“Oh! That’s a very good thing!”

I must tell you that I smiled as I listened to these two people become friends. What a lovely conversation. One person recognizes the unique qualities that the other person has displayed during their few hours of conversation. The other person receives that affirmation with a certain joy and thankfulness. This represents a truly positive outcome from spending several hours on what could have been just another routine flight.

On the one part, I must congratulate the first person for having the ability to perceive the value of the person in the next airplane seat. On the other part, I must congratulate the second person for offering enticing conversation that provoked such a positive response from the seatmate. Both parties deserve recognition for their contribution to this new-found and growing relationship.

In the Scripture verse that begins this blog post, King David prays a prayer of gratitude to God. David’s prayer follows a lengthy prophesy that the Prophet Nathan delivers to the King, on behalf of God. Nathan outlines exactly the many ways in which God intends to bless David, as David reigns over Israel. Quite naturally, in great humility, David prays his thanksgiving to God, in a most eloquent prayer.

In his prayer, David makes the declaration contained in this quoted Scripture verse. David acknowledges that God is great, that there is no one like Him, and that He alone is the one true God. David’s declaration is very much like the one I heard on that airplane, as two people became acquainted with each other and the first person declared:

“I must confess that I have never met anyone quite like you.”

As we begin this new day, let us ponder God’s unfailing love for us, thinking about all that He has done for us and continues to do for us, feeling gratitude that—through the in-dwelling Holy Spirit—God continues to lay out a pathway for our lives. It would be very well for us to give to God this same acknowledgement that King David gave. We can rightly say to God:

“How great you are, O Sovereign Lord! There is no one like you!””

 

_{Copyright © 2026 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

Nonconforming

 

Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing, and perfect will.

—Romands 12:2

Our society in the United States has become increasingly one that requires people to conform to norms dictated by those who believe they control everything—political leaders, social leaders, and cultural leaders. For the most part, this has become the exclusive domain of those elite individuals who think in so-called “progressive” ways. Of course, progressivism actually represents political, social, cultural, even spiritual contexts that move ever more deeply into a society, principally following the dictates of Karl Marx and his cohorts.

While few seem willing to declare it openly, through progressive teaching in our education system, including from pre-school through institutions of higher learning, young people get a strong push towards Communism and the unified state-control of all aspects of life. A majority of people, especially young people, miss the fact that this push destroys every aspect of the freedoms on which our national foundation rests. Instead of offering a “progressive”—that is, a forward, ever-improving direction—this philosophy will actually repressively doom our freedoms to obliteration.

In contrast to this political, social, cultural, and spiritual push within our society to conform, we find the Scripture verse quoted at the beginning of this blog post. This verse follows another very crucial instruction from the Apostle Paul that I will share in a later blog post this month. For now, let’s examine what this verse from Romans 12:2 instructs.

The teaching from the Apostle Paul seems quite clear:

• Stop doing what we have been doing!
  
  
• Do not conform to the pattern of this world.
  
  
• Become transformed by the renewing of our minds.
  
  
• As a result, we will be able to test and approve what God’s will is for our lives.
  
  
• Once we do this, we will discover that God’s will is good, pleasing, and perfect.
  
  

As you can clearly see, this teaching of the Apostle Paul completely destroys the direction toward which our current society has chosen to move. In place of every aspect of our lives controlled by a centralized effort of political, social, cultural, and spiritual elites, God intends for us to make full use of the freedoms that He has given us, and to make full use of our ability to surrender our selfish and flawed human wills to His divine and perfect will. He wants us to give ourselves wholeheartedly to Him.

As we begin a new day, let’s not lose sight of the fact that God has given us the freedom to choose this day whom we will serve. I have no idea what pathway you will choose. But, as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord, and Him only.

 

_{Copyright © 2026 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}