Tool Makers Scopes

Precision Measuring

A measure of help and psalm 60

Psalm 60 reads as follows from the NIV version of the Bible

1 You have rejected us, O God, and burst forth upon us; 
you have been angry-now restore us!

2 You have shaken the land and torn it open; 
mend its fractures, for it is quaking.

3 You have shown your people desperate times; 
you have given us wine that makes us stagger.

4 But for those who fear you, you have raised a banner 
to be unfurled against the bow. 
Selah

5 Save us and help us with your right hand, 
that those you love may be delivered.

6 God has spoken from his sanctuary: 
"In triumph I will parcel out Shechem 
and measure off the Valley of Succoth.

7 Gilead is mine, and Manasseh is mine; 
Ephraim is my helmet, 
Judah my scepter.

8 Moab is my washbasin, 
upon Edom I toss my sandal; 
over Philistia I shout in triumph."

9 Who will bring me to the fortified city? 
Who will lead me to Edom?

10 Is it not you, O God, you who have rejected us 
and no longer go out with our armies?

11 Give us aid against the enemy, 
for the help of man is worthless.

12 With God we will gain the victory, 
and he will trample down our enemies

 

When you don't know the measure of an issue, this is a situation which calls for the help of the Lord.

At the same time, the Lord has the measure of the help that is needed, whatever that measure be as it says in verse 6 of this psalm where it says

6 God has spoken from his sanctuary: 
"In triumph I will parcel out Shechem 
and measure off the Valley of Succoth.

In the context of this psalm talking about help as the major theme, the Lord has the help and the measure of the help.

So not only should we ask specifically for help, we should ask for the measure of help or the full measure of help that applies to our needs or in the manner  intercession towards the needs and concerns of others.

Ask for and thank the Lord for a measure of help with regards to your concerns.

You can think about what is holding you back and you can think about what is propelling you forward. Both considerations are areas that require help.

Help in some ways seems like an ill defined concept but obviously it is something that to a greater or lesser extent is actually needed.

You can't maneuver into a situation anytime and anywhere that is devoid of the need for help.

It is not your measure as in your measure but your measure as in the Lord's measure.

The need is to call upon the Lord's measure of rain along the lines of help for needed rain, the Lord's measure of understanding and insight, the Lord's measure of grace and that will be the correct measure.

And this can go for either local personalized issues or big broad national and international issues.

A current example that illustrates this concept is the oil spill in the Gulf, where those who are directly working on the problem have lost a toehold on the extent of the spill and where the oil will end up

Even the estimates of the oil spilling into the gulf region and beyond are widely varied

Where is this oil going to disperse to and in what amounts?  How much is out there and at what depths?

We often do not know how an issue, situation, circumstance measures out.

Measure also refers to precision, as well as largess, what precisely is going on here and often we don't have that precision either.

I may not 100 percent needs relatively non quantifiable things like quiet time in meditation, good scenery, and additional exercise in some form, but say I do need 30 percent more of these things, should I ignore the need before it isn't fully tilted towards 100 percent?

I may think it isn't that critical that I have the company of and help of angels in that things seem to be humming along nicely, but who knows what the dangers are, where they are and how they are lurking about and these are things that the angels do have a measure of.

While the help of others is of use, and your own help to yourself is useful, we do quickly lose sight on what the measures are right now and what they will be going forward.

People do fill in with solutions that are based essentially on guess work as they just don't have the measures.

The help of the Lord differs in that within it are contained all the measures.

 

What is the amount of sunshine that will go across the whole planet earth today?

 

How many total fish are there in all the oceans right now?

 

How many total steps will it be for me to hike this 20 mile mountainous trail or is even the trail marked correctly at 20 miles?

 

As we go into situations we lack more so that have many of the measures.

 

It is good to have some measures, it is good to know that the hike I am indeed attempting is about 20 miles rather than 40 or ten miles in that it does give me a general outline and a general idea.

 

But I still don't know what the changing weather conditions might be; the changing wind conditions might be as things can change on the dime in high mountain terrain.

On the surface, things seemed to be more so measured out in the city like settings such as the big mall, but that might only hold in part. Just because there are buildings precisely engineered, stores will a precisely measured layout of goods, doesn't mean that things are going on in and around these locations that are important that I just don't have a measure with.

No matter what it is easy enough to say I am going to lack natural means of help no matter what because whether it be in the nooks and crannies of things or in the outright big picture view of things, I don't even have the measures of what I am fully dealing with and without that it is difficult to know what the help is and should be

If I have a farm and I need rain for my crops, I know I need rain but the measure has to be in some correct range as well, too much rain could flood the crops

I may find I lack a creative approach to things but how much creativity do I need to fix this and how much creativity do I have in the first place as far as abilities, since I haven't been paying attention to my creative self for a long time?

This also goes to prayer, sometimes people are praying for an issue for a long time but another thing to ask is what some of the measures involved with this are?

For example, a common problem today is financial distress due to some overall reversals in the world economy. Yet people in the throes of financial difficulty don't often have a good outline of the money that is needed to break through the malaise

You might be seeking some spiritual insight but have many insights do you need, as opposed to what you think you need

You are asking for angelic help, but do you need an angel to escort you to the train or do you need an angel to hang around and help you just about all the time for the whole year?

This is why the oil spill situation is so illustrative of needing the Lord's help. It is uncharted territory as far as bringing environmental damages to popular beaches and resorts and uncharted territory as to how much oil is there in relation to the size of the oceans involved and how it might continue to disperse and affect previously preserved natural resources.

It is a portion of humility that we need to call upon the Lord and his angels for help as we lack the measures.

Another aspect of this might be having a lesser view or measure of our abilities and we do not attempt to do things because we need more practice, more seasoning, more education so we might forego things we can do now and do well now to some unseen future where we will finally possibly measure up and measure in to the proposals so the ways we measure things also could result in inappropriate and improper delays on matters that you could go forward on right about now.

I'll write a poem after I take ten classes in poetry and 5 people tell me I can write a good poem. So to relatively artificial measures into the idea of writing a poem are brought into play.

I'll pray for big worldwide issues and big worldwide solutions when 7 people tell me I am worthy to do this and have the prayer power and now I measure in to being able to take this approach in prayer

At least with prayer, you don't need to be the king on the hill, or Ms. Wealthy to have the means, ability and access to prayer and great prayers.

The kid on the corner with the ice cream pop can be the giant prayer warrior.

And new times bring new measures that might not have been there before. Now it is the number of views on a You Tube video as a new measure out there.

But it is also basic logic to understand what this psalm is saying, that indeed we do lack measures and do need some unknown measures of help either greater or smaller but we do need the help in the measures that only the Lord can know and only the Lord can supply towards are mounting problems both now and in the future.

Because we are dealing with so many unknown measures, for example I am get angry but how angry am I, we do need the help of the Lord is even seeing the extent of the difficulty in terms of getting a possible handle on both the problem and possible solutions

We do like to have some measures for sure, how many miles is this trip, how long will I jog tonight time wise.  How many pages of this book can I read now?

These things help in establishing a ball park range but realistically sometimes we don't even have that and this is also were we need the help of the Lord to orient ourselves to the truths of realities present and how we might deal with these ongoing realities.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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