Cry Out to the Lord

When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears and delivers them out of all their troubles.

Psalm 34:17 

There are many things in life that cause us to cry out to the Lord.  When we hear news that a family member or close friend has died.  When relationships fail.  When financial difficulties loom and anxiety is high.  When the diagnosis of a disease comes as a surprise.  When a loved one falls away from their relationship with the Lord.  These and many more situations all lead us, as Christians, to cry out to the Lord.

What a wonderful blessing and gift we have in prayer.  We are invited to cry out to God about anything at any time.  We have the blessing of knowing that as we cry out to God in prayer, He hears us.  More than that, He answers our prayers according to what He knows to be best.

In the midst of all the struggles and difficulties that this world brings, we may not always feel that God is listening and answering our cries for help.  Well, if there is an expert on “crying out to the Lord”, it’s David.  David reminds us in Psalm 34 that when we cry out to God, we certainly are not wasting our breath!  God hears and answers prayer!  The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit! 

As Christians we know full well that we are not somehow exempt from disappointments, temptations to sin, and other difficult experiences.  Yet, we have the marvelous promise that God is near to us and He indeed saves us!  Augustine writes, “A great mystery, Brethren.  God is above all:  you raise yourself, and touch Him not; you humble yourself, and He descends to you.”

Remember each and every day the great blessing and privilege we have to pray to the Lord!

What a friend we have in Jesus, All our sins and griefs to bear!

What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer!

Oh, what peace we often forfeit; Oh, what needless pain we bear

All because we do not carry everything to God in prayer!

LSB #770

 

Rejoice!

This is the day that the Lord has made;

Let us rejoice and be glad in it!

Psalm 118:24

There is an interesting story about world-class violinist Joshua Bell from January 2007.  A couple days after playing to a packed house where people paid up to $200 for a ticket, Bell changed venues.  He put on street clothes and played outside the L’Efant Plaza Metro station.  Bell was taking place in an experiment from the Washington Post.  During Bell’s 45 minute performance outside the metro station, only 7 people stopped to listen.  A stampede of tourists passed by in that time frame, but only 7 had stopped to listen to this world-class performer play the violin.

The point of the story is that a lot of times we miss the blessings that God gives us each day!  Part of it could be that we don’t notice them or that we simply take them for granted.  Thanks be to God – for He still daily showers us with His grace every day…even when we don’t notice or acknowledge it.

Every day we can say along with the Psalmist – “This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it!”.  Each and every day we can rejoice that we are children of God – His beloved!  We can rejoice in God’s promises to take care of our every need of both body and soul.  And we can rejoice in the accomplished fact of our salvation through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ!