Little Miss Helpful - Roger Hargreaves
- Irene Lawson
- Jun 1
- 3 min read
Miss Helpful liked to help people but it didn’t always work out well. Mr Tall’s shoelaces became undone, but it wasn’t easy for him to sort out the problem. Who should come rushing up but Miss Helpful? “Let me help!” She certainly was keen, but what’s happened? She had tied Mr Tall’s shoelaces together. And he fell over and banged his head. “Let me help!” cried Miss Helpful and rushed off for some sticking plasters. In no time at all she’s back and got ready to stick it on Mr Tall’s head. Job well done but not exactly—she had stuck it over his mouth. Yes, you heard correctly. “Mmmm mm mm” he said. He was trying to say, “Take it off!” Again, Miss Helpful looked at him with concern. “Let me help!”, she cried. “Ouuuuch” cried Mr Tall. “That hurt”. Miss Helpful offered to get cream to soothe his mouth. By this time Mr Tall could only groan, “Go away!” Miss Helpful wasn’t really helpful on the many occasions she tried. She didn’t try to find out how she could change.
And here we have our fundamental human truth—sometimes our helping hurts.
In the Old Testament we read about the Israelites who lived in Egypt (Exodus chapter 1 and 2). The new king was worried about them becoming powerful and one of the things that he ordered the midwives to do was to kill the new born boys, but they could allow the girls to live. The midwives disobeyed and let the boys live. The king of Egypt, (Pharaoh) ordered that all boys should be thrown into the River Nile. A baby boy was born and his Israelite mother managed to hide him for three months. Then she made a basket from papyrus reeds and coated them with tar and pitch and placed the baby and basket along the reeds at the bank of the Nile. But he wasn’t alone, big sister Miriam was keeping an eye on him. As they had hoped, Pharaoh’s daughter came to bathe in the river and found the basket. Miriam stepped forward and offered to get a Hebrew woman to nurse the baby. Pharaoh’s daughter was delighted to have someone to look after the baby and even paid his mother to care for him. The princess named him Moses—“I drew him out of the water.”
Isn’t it exciting to see how God’s plans work out? And here we find our great Bible truth which answers our human one—we can be helpful, if we are following the One who never fails. Miriam was a wonderful Miss Helpful because she did what was right and followed God’s rules, not Pharaoh’s.
We also read in the Old Testament about Ruth (Ruth chapters 1-4). She decided to remain with Naomi instead of continuing in her homeland after the deaths of their respective husbands, and they travelled to Bethlehem. As you read in the Bible about what happened to Ruth it is amazing to find out that she was an ancestor of David, who in turn was an ancestor of Mary, the mother of Jesus. She started off being a helper by responding to God’s call to follow Him and to help Naomi and look where it ended—with her helping to bring Jesus into the world!
We are now going to turn to the New Testament of the Bible where we learn about Dorcas, who is also known as Tabitha. Dorcas is from the Greek and Tabitha is from Aramaic. From now we will refer to her as Dorcas. We read about her in the book of Acts, chapter 9, verses 36-43.
The apostle Peter travelled to Joppa from Lydda immediately when he was told that Dorcas had become sick and died. Her friends showed Peter all the robes and other clothing that Dorcas had made to give to the poor and needy. Peter knelt down and prayed then turned and said, “Tabitha, get up.” She opened her eyes and then Peter helped her to her feet and all the believers and friends saw that Dorcas was alive. Now wasn’t that wonderful?
Now what can we learn? Dorcas used her everyday skills to help others. She certainly was a true follower of Jesus by serving others. Her love showed God’s care for the needy. By using her God-given gifts she was helpful.
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