The Great Help

" aappy is üe tuat natu the God of Jacob for hm help, whose hope is in the Lord Ma God."- rsalm xivi. 5. Happiness is songht by all men. Some seek in one way, some in another Many, in the gratiflcation of eeJf in one form or another, seek it in the wrong ■way and fail in their search. Others i again are content to look for it in God' way - where God has placed it; these find and make it their own. David was one of these; he knew where and how true happiness is to be found; and guided by God's Holy Spirit, he has left behind him directions for the seeker in every age. Let us look at the picture of the happy man, as painted by the hand of David, thus guided. The verse sta tes "Happy ishethat hath the God of Jacob for hiB help, whose hope is in the Lord his God.' That man or child, then, is happy who has his help from, and his hope in, the God of Jacob. Now, to understand this, we must know the character of this God. What, then, was He to Jacob? This is the flrsl question for us to consider. If we look back at the life of the patriarch, we shall find that the firstmentioned interview between him and his God is in the hour of tiouble. In Genesis we read of him leaving his father's home. One false step, one sin, lias led to this necessary eiile. Behind him is his home, to which he may never return; bef ore him the land of strangers, to which he is journeying. Well may he be ead ! But we cannot pause longer at this point of Jacob's history; enough for us to know that he was in trouble. As night sets in he tarries at " a certain place," and lies dewn to rest with no softer pillow than the stones the spot afforded. Before he laitl down to rest, however, we can fully believe - though we are not told - that the son of Isaac knelt down in prayer to seek pardon from, and to commit himself to the care of, his father's God. Nay, indirect proof is given that he did so. To return : While Jacob sleeps, God appears to him and comforts him with a promise - "The land whereon thou liest," etc. (Gen. xxviii. 13, 14). What a promise, when we remember the Maker of it! It was Jacob's father's God who spoke it- One able to fulñl it, and One who did fulfil it ; so we learn from the after history of Jacob. Then we see "aGod of promises" was Jacob's God. From this portion of the patriarch's history we learn, too, indirectly, that he was a pardoning God. For, had He not forgiven, in answer to pr&yer, the false step of Jacob in deceiving his father, He would certainly not have been with him to keep him in His ways. Again, He stands before uf in the character of a prayer-hearing God. Jacob himself tells us that " He answered him in the day of his distress," i. e. , the day he left his home as a wanderer. We read, to, that when Jacob feared to meet his brother Eaau he prayed most earnestly to his father's God, reminding Him of His promise and was answered, after using all the means in bis power to appease his brother's wrath. We find him, on that memorable night, wrestliDg with God in prayer until the daybrcak, determined to get a Messing. In both cases he prevailed - in both he was heard and answered for Esau was reconciled to him in a wonderf al manner. Yes, the God of Jacob was pre-eminently a hearing God. Lastly, a protecting God was the God of Jacob. Who watched over the patriarch in his journey to Pedaram, and guided him to his uncle's house ? Who protected him while there, and who watched over his interests ? Who, while permitting him to be punished by meítns of retributive jnstice, as seen in his unsle's conduct, yet blessed him on his leaving Laban? Who protected hiin from his wrath? Again, who was it protected Jacob from ths well-deservcd inger of his brother Esau, and turned the heart of that brother to Jacob? And lastly, when returning to Bethel, who was it protected him from the " cities " as he journeyed on bis way Who ? None other but the God of hi father Isaac- his own Qod.