Answer me when I call to You,
my righteous God.
Give me relief from my distress;
have mercy on me and hear my prayer.
Psalm 4:1
How many times have you prayed a prayer similar to this one? Many times, if you like me, call out to God in times of stress and distress! And this week my friends who contribute to our Seeking Him devotional blog have each shared on this verse with similar thoughts. Here is a quick reminder of some of the things that Ann, Ahmee, Cynda, Laura, and Tina have written.
Cynda wrote in her devotional entitled, Perfect Prayers, how she loved the simplicity of David’s prayer. She reminded us of how God always looks at the heart not all the superfluous things. And she wrote, ‘ Prayer doesn’t have to be fancy. It doesn’t have to be perfect. It just needs to be heartfelt. It needs to be uttered with passion. God honors fervent prayers by being merciful and gracious to us.”
Ann shared her heart in Prayerfulness that there have been times when she ‘…cried to my God to answer my prayers because I felt that they were not being answered…this only brought discomfort and fear in me. All the faith had gone…all I could see was unanswered prayer.” But the Holy Spirit spoke to her saying, ‘You know what, Ann? Cast all your cares unto God and He will give you rest.” <Simple but oh-so-necessary!> She compelled us “I urge each one of you to be earnestly prayerful and regularly engaged in prayer. With faith, we will have answered prayers. All that we need is to ask God for help. Our prayers will be granted.”
Ahmee encouraged us, in Just A Reminder, to see the importance of rest—directing us to Jesus’ words recorded in Matthew 11:28-30.
Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light. She also wrote: “So, take your request to Him and then rest. {Do not forget about the resting part!}”Tina focused on The Provider aspect of God’s love and care for us. “When we are in distress, we call out to God. We expect Him to answer us immediately,” Tina wrote. And she reminded us that God is able to handle our upsetment! In addition, she gave us the example “…of Abraham who left his father, took his wife and nephew, and moved away from all that he knew. Just because God called to him. But Abraham received a promise. A promise to become a father of many.” And we know how abundantly and miraculously God has provided for what He promised Abraham!
In her blog, Answering The Caller ID, Laura took the part of the verse that says ‘Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness…” and brought it all back to a call we need to heed: “…Here is one call that we are supposed to answer no matter what. The caller ID is our heart being tugged at by Jesus wanting us to accept Him as our Savior. It is a call that should be answered every time. By answering the call of Christ, our faith is strengthened and fortified.” She also wrote, “When we answer Christ’s call, God hears us. We become blessed even more.” Oh, yes we do!
My heart was encouraged day-by-day as I read and considered the words and Truth being shared by these friends of mine (and yours!). As I prayed and studied, two Scriptures came to mind; may I share them with you? I hope that they will encourage and comfort you…reminding you to always call out to your heavenly Father…who is always listening…He always hears and always answers!
The Lord is near to all who call upon Him,
To all who call upon Him in truth.
He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him;
He will also hear their cry and will save them.
The Lord keeps all who love Him,
But all the wicked He will destroy.
Psalms 145:18-20
Now this is the confidence that we have in Him,
that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.
And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask,
we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.
1 John 5:14-15
