For some time now, I had been feeling frustrated and exhausted…to the point where I had that “what is life” moment. You know that moment when you begin to reflect on whether or not life has meaning? Yeah, that one. In my brooding, an answer came to me “it’s because you have refused to ask for help”. I had been so exhausted and frustrated over the days because I refused to ask God for help. 
Christians are so afraid to ask God for help. We ask for money, good health, long life, and the likes. But we hardly ask for help. Sometimes, not neccessarily because we really believe in our own ability to handle it all by ourselves but because we haven’t just seen it as an important prayer. 

Or perhaps, we don’t believe so much that He can help us. 

The currency by which we receive things–including help–in the Spirit is faith (Heb. 11:6). When you ask God for something, you must believe He has heard you already. If you ask Him to help you in a job interview you’re going for, don’t approach the location timid as though you have already been rejected. Walk in boldness that no matter what happens, God’s help is there for you. 

I believe the reason why many believers don’t ask God for help is because we don’t believe so much in the power of His help. “What if after asking for God’s help He says go?” Then you go na! But because we are afraid of the outcome, we don’t ask and even when we do, we sit and do nothing. How do we receive God’s help if we’re not even willing to experience it? 
There is one person in the Bible who had strong faith and boldness too, and because of this, he always experienced God’s help in powerful ways. That person is David. I’ll give you two instances where this applies. 

David was sent to the battle field to deliver food to his brothers who had been drafted into the army to fight Goliath. He was minding his business when he heard something that stirred his spirit. He then challenged this mighty warrior that had tormented all the warriors of Israel for days. He said “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.” We know how the story goes. David defeated Goliath, the people were overjoyed, and he became the choice king of the people. Before he went out to fight Goliath, in verse 37 he boasted confidently in God’s help; The Lord who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine. In verse 45, he did the same. Invoking the name of the Lord at that critical moment is paramount to asking God for back up…for help. (1 Sam. 17: 25-50)

Fast forward to several years later, David was already king and something happened. His belongings had been carted away by his enemies. Now, take note of what David did. He went to a secret place and asked for God’s help. He wasn’t going nowhere until he was sure that he would not just meet up with the enemies but that he will also recover all. (1 Sam. 30:8-10)
If David did not have faith and boldness to follow, he would have never experienced God’s help. He would only think of what could have been. His trust in the power of God’s help paid off like crazy. 

Apart from it showing our faith or trust in God, in asking Him for help, we exhibit humility–because to ask for help is to humble one’s self. It means we acknowledge our insufficiency and recognise His all-sufficiency. We basically say “God, I don’t have it all together but you hold it all together”. We declare our need of Him. How would you feel if your friend couldn’t turn to you for help in times of trouble and instead chose to suffer in silence? You’ll wonder, what is the whole essence of the relationship? When we ask God for His help, we tell Him He is reliable. Moreover, when we do this, we get tremendous results.  

I heard somewhere, that one prayer God will always answer is a prayer for help. “God, help me”. I don’t know if it is true but I believe it is, since I haven’t seen anyone who asked for God’s help and was rejected. It may be something about the display of faith or the humility, i don’t know. But I know this prayer works. Sometimes, the help may come as strength to bear a loss, sometimes, it may come as deliverance, it may come as a delay, or it may come as supernatural breakthrough, all I know is that God always helps those who ask. The Psalmist, after many encounters, said in Psalm 46:1 that God is a very present help in times of trouble. 

Here’s how I understand this. You know how you can ask someone for help but because of how distracted they are, you just get upset and tell them not to worry? God is not like that. He is very present. Like, He is there, giving you the attention and help you need in that time of trouble. And God’s definition of “trouble” is anything that troubles you. No matter regarding you is too trivial to Him.

Looking to men for help will fail you. Man is limited. You will agree with me that there are times you really want to help someone but you don’t know how or you don’t just have the capacity to. In some other cases, those self-acclaimed helpers then begin to lord themselves over the ones they’ve helped. This is why it is vain to put your trust in men. However, there is one Person that will never fail you. His help is always timely and always just what you need. It is God. Psalm 121: 1-2 NIV says I lift up my eyes to the mountains—where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.
If you’ve been struggling a lot lately, this may be the prompt you need to ask God for His help. He wants to help you…only if you’d let him…only if you’d ask Him.