Helpless against Circumstance

Henry Lyte describes this on coming slide into helplessness in his song “Abide with me…” “Abide with me; fast falls the eventide; the darkness deepens; Lord with me abide.” The first impulse when helplessness comes upon us is to look for others to help us… Lyte's next line emphasizes that total hopeless helplessness when you can't find anyone to catch you when you are falling… “When other helpers fail and comforts flee, Help of the helpless, o abide with me!”

Mark is writing on the theme of Christ is the Messiah… proven by his many and great works. Mark writes a gospel of action and his favorite word is ‘straightway.' In Mark 4:35 through to the end of chapter 5 we have 4 great acts of Christ helping the helpless and wonderfully demonstrating his power to save us. Every one of us at some point has or will sink… quickly or slowly into a bog of seeming helplessness… Here is the one we are to look to…