What does the Bible say about asking for help?
Many people hate to ask others for help. They have that “I can do it on my own” mentality. In life when something is broken in the home, wives say, “call someone to fix it.” Men say, “why when I can do it myself,” even though he doesn’t know how to. In the workplace, some people have a ton of work to do, but they refuse to ask their co-workers for help.
Sometimes it’s because we don’t want to feel like a burden, sometimes we don’t want to be turned down, sometimes we just want to control everything, some people hate anything that feels like a hand out.
There is nothing wrong with seeking help in fact Scripture encourages it. Christians must ask God for help daily because we won’t get far in life trying to live off of our own strength.
When God puts you in a situation, He wants you to ask for help. It’s never meant for us to do God’s will by ourselves. God is the one who guides us in the right path.
Believing that we can do everything leads to failure. Trust in the Lord. Sometimes God helps us by doing things Himself and sometimes God helps us through other people. We must never be afraid to get wise counsel and help for big decisions from others.
Asking for help doesn’t mean you’re weak, but it means you are strong and wise. Being proud is a sin and that is why many people fail to ask for help even when they desperately need it. Continually ask the Lord for help and strength daily realizing it’s impossible to live the Christian life without Him.
Christian quotes about asking for help
“Some people think God does not like to be troubled with our constant coming and asking. The way to trouble God is not to come at all.” Dwight L. Moody
“Refusing to ask for help when you need it is refusing someone the chance to be helpful.” – Ric Ocasek
“Be strong enough to stand alone, smart enough to know when you need help, and brave enough to ask for it.” Ziad K. Abdelnour
“Asking for help is an act of brave humility, a confession that these human bodies and minds that we inhabit are frail and imperfect and broken.”
“Humble people ask for help.”
“Don’t be shy about asking for help. It doesn’t mean you’re weak, it only means you’re wise.”
Scripture has a lot to say about asking for help
1. Isaiah 30:18-19 So the LORD must wait for you to come to him so he can show you his love and compassion. For the LORD is a faithful God. Blessed are those who wait for his help. O people of Zion, who live in Jerusalem, you will weep no more. He will be gracious if you ask for help. He will surely respond to the sound of your cries.
2. James 1:5 If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking.
3. Psalm 121:2 My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.
4. Matthew 7:7 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.”
5. Isaiah 22:11 Between the city walls, you build a reservoir for water from the old pool. But you never ask for help from the One who did all this. You never considered the One who planned this long ago.
6. John 14:13-14 Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.
7. 2 Chronicles 6:29-30 When all your people Israel pray and ask for help, as they acknowledge their intense pain and spread out their hands toward this temple, then listen from your heavenly dwelling place, forgive their sin, and act favorably toward each one based on your evaluation of their motives. (Indeed you are the only one who can correctly evaluate the motives of all people.)
Seeking wise counsel Bible verses
8. Proverbs 11:14 Where no counsel is, the people fall: but in the multitude of counsellers there is safety.
9. Proverbs 15:22 Without advice plans go wrong, but with many advisers they succeed.
10. Proverbs 20:18 Plans succeed through good counsel; don’t go to war without wise advice.
11. Proverbs 12:15 The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man listens to advice.
Sometimes we need advice and help from others.
12. Exodus 18:14-15 When Moses’ father-in-law saw all that Moses was doing for the people, he asked, “What are you really accomplishing here? Why are you trying to do all this alone while everyone stands around you from morning till evening?”
13. 1 Kings 12:6-7 King Rehoboam consulted with the older advisers who had served his father Solomon when he had been alive. He asked them, “How do you advise me to answer these people?” They said to him, “Today if you show a willingness to help these people and grant their request, they will be your servants from this time forward.”
14. Matthew 8:5 When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking for help.
Pride is the main reason people don’t want to ask for help.
15. Psalm 10:4 In his pride the wicked man does not seek him; in all his thoughts there is no room for God. – (What is pride in the Bible?)
16. Proverbs 11:2 When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with the humble is wisdom.
17. James 4:10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.
Christians are to help the body of Christ.
18. Romans 12:5 In the same way, even though we are many individuals, Christ makes us one body and individuals who are connected to each other.
19. Ephesians 4:12-13 Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ. This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ.
20. 1 Corinthians 10:17 Because there is one loaf, we are one body, although we are many individuals. All of us share one loaf.
We should never ask the wicked for help.
21. Isaiah 8:19 People will say to you, “Ask for help from the mediums and the fortunetellers, who whisper and mutter.” Shouldn’t people ask their God for help instead? Why should they ask the dead to help the living?
Never trust in the arm of the flesh.
Put your full trust in the Lord.
22. 2 Chronicles 32:8 “With him is only the arm of flesh, but with us is the LORD our God to help us and to fight our battles.” And the people gained confidence from what Hezekiah the king of Judah said.
Reminders
23. Proverbs 26:12 Have you met a person who thinks he is wise? There is more hope for a fool than for him.
24. Proverbs 28:26 He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool: but whoso walketh wisely, he shall be delivered.
25. Proverbs 16:9 The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.