Eleazar-God is our help!

My dads name was Eleazar “Charles” Maciel, but he took on the name “Charles’’ as his familiar name somewhere along his life. I really only remember people calling him Charles but he would use Eleazar when he was introducing himself. I didn’t realize it until after he passed away that his name “Eleazar” meant, “God is our help.” I am not sure why his parents gave him this Hebrew name but I know his mom, and my grandmother was a devoted follower of Jesus. She was always in the Word and looking for God’s help despite being in a wheelchair much of her life.

It wasn’t until my dad turned 40 that he truly called on God to help him. He was lost and struggling with his purpose and his identity in life. Then one Sunday he was at home by himself and he got on down on his knees and called on God. He asked Jesus to come into his life and to help him. He was found, he began to understand his purpose, he had found his strength and the understand the true meaning of his given name, Eleazar.

I began to see and understand as I grew up around him that my earthly dad called on God to be his help with great devotion. He began to live and trust God in this life with all things, his family, his work, his sickness, and even his death. God was his help, and because I saw that in his life I began to understand that I must also call on God to be my help.

It is not my own strength or wisdom that gets me through each day. It is not my wife or family that helps me through the struggle. It is not even my church, it is God, God is my help. He is my strength through this time of uncertainty. He is my hope when so many people around me are living without hope. He is my peace when everything else around me seems chaotic. He is my help, he is the help. He is the help we all need in this time.

Psalm 91 says, “I will deliver; I will protect those who know my name.” My dad knew his name…the name of the Lord, and God gave him a name…Eleazar…to help him know that “God is our help.”