Lent is or at least should be a time of reflection and self-examination. We are called to be more like Christ. If you observe Lent then make it a point to be more Christ-like in all you think, say and do. The devotionals over the 40-day Lenten period are meant to steer you in that direction. May his name be glorified thru our lives.
HE HEARS OUR CRY
“I love the LORD, for he heard my voice; he heard my cry for mercy. Because he turned his ear to me, I will call on him as long as I live.”- Psalm 116:1-2
Charles Spurgeon (1834-1892), noted evangelist/preacher, suggests that this non-Davidic Psalm shows evidence of being a song sung during the Israelites flight from Egypt. David Dickson (1583-1663), Scottish theologian states that the writer is expressing thanksgiving “for his mercy unto him, and in particular for some notable delivery of him from death, both bodily and spiritual.” The great thing about God is that all this is relevant for us today. This is because God is not only no respecter of persons, but also that time is completely irrelevant to Him. So when we find ourselves in a place where we need Him to hear our voice as we cry out to Him, God does hear and will act on our behalf. As always, it is done His way and in His time. We can confidently call out to God anytime of the day or night in any situation we happen to find ourselves in and He will hear us. He is not like we are, half listening and not hearing, but rather is attentive to our cry and ready to take care of any need we may have.
I would like to point out that the writer’s phrase “because he turned his ear to me” shouldn’t be seen as a conditional response. This is all figurative language for we know that God, being a spiritual entity, doesn’t have a literal ear to incline towards us. I believe this verse should be looked at from a slightly different perspective: Using history as his proof, the writer will always call on God because he always gets results. Would you continue to contact someone if you could never get ahold of him or her? I don’t know about you but I wouldn’t. At some point I would stop trying, figuring that person on the other end doesn’t want to be bothered or is busy. Neither would ever be the case with our God. We are never, ever bothering Him, neither is He ever too busy to hear us and act or react on our behalf. God’s consistency is one of His greatest attributes. He is always the same. He has never and will never change. We are the only ones who can circumvent His will for us by willfully marching off in a different direction than He intended us to go (we’ll use Jonah as our example); free will allows for that. When we finally wake up and realize we have made a mistake, He is right there to pick up the pieces and help us move on. God is the only one who truly cares and is able to do something about the situation we may be in. Until next time, walk with the King and be a blessing! rkeller
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