Daily Manna, Year Two · Day 257 · September 14
Him That Hath No Helper
“For he shall deliver the needy when he crieth; the poor also, and him that hath no helper.”
When we pray for the people in charge, our prayers are usually about things staying steady. We ask that the country holds together and that our own plans are not disturbed. Psalm 72 is a prayer for a king too, yet almost none of it is about the people praying it.
Walk through what it asks for. "He shall judge thy people with righteousness, and thy poor with judgment." "He shall judge the poor of the people, he shall save the children of the needy, and shall break in pieces the oppressor." "For he shall deliver the needy when he crieth; the poor also, and him that hath no helper." "He shall spare the poor and needy, and shall save the souls of the needy." "He shall redeem their soul from deceit and violence: and precious shall their blood be in his sight." The same small group of people turns up in line after line.
The phrase "him that hath no helper" tells you who is most in view. Not everyone who is poor is alone. Some have a family, a church, or somebody who will answer the phone. This king is measured by what he does for the ones who have nobody. The line "precious shall their blood be in his sight" points the same way. When nobody else counts what a poor man's life is worth, the king counts it and treats it as precious.
Then look at what happened next. The psalm's title links it to Solomon, yet as soon as Solomon died, the people came to his son with this complaint: "Thy father made our yoke grievous." The prayer turned out to be bigger than the king it was prayed over. That is why Isaiah speaks of a King still to come, who will do it in full: "with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth." Jesus is that King, and the needy who cry to Him are heard.
So find the one person in your week who has no helper. Think of one particular name, someone nobody has taken on. Then do the first thing a helper does, and make yourself easy to reach. Give that person a way to call on you, and be there when they do. In a small way, you will be showing them what their King is like.
Daily Manna runs on a two-year cycle. The year one reading for day 257 is Gentleness Makes Great (Psalm 18:35).