“In my distress I called to the LORD; I cried to my God for help. From his temple he heard my voice; my cry came before him, into his ears.” (Psalm 18:6)
Distress - extreme anxiety, sorrow, or pain.
Extreme - reaching a high or the highest degree; very severe or serious.
“It is never an ill time to pray; no distress should prevent us from using the divine remedy of supplication. Above the noise of the raging billows of death, or the barking dogs of hell, the feeblest cry of a true believer will be heard in heaven.”*
David was in a very difficult situation; King Saul was after him to kill him. The Spirit of the Lord had departed Saul, leaving him to be influenced by an evil spirit which caused him to be jealous of David and want harm to come to him. This Davidic Psalm thanks the Lord for a great deliverance from his enemies and King Saul.
There are no doubt times in our life that we become distressed; even extremely distressed. If we did not know the Lord, where would we turn? Some folks who have a casual relationship with God question why certain issues or events had to come into their life. It’s as if just the mere thought of God would cause them to have a worry free existence. Sadly, ignorance is prevalent in the body of Christ. Believers don’t truly know God the way that they could. They don’t understand that trials and tribulations will come to test our faith as a means of strengthening it. If we have the misguided belief that no trouble shall befall us if we simply believe, then we will end up falling prey to disbelief and apostasy. God is with us always. He desires for us to draw near to Him. He isn’t a genie in a bottle, so to speak, so that whenever we have a problem we can call on Him and then go about our normal business once the problem is resolved. The Lord desires to have a deep, abiding relationship with us and that takes time and effort; two things we don’t seem real interested in investing.
David knew His God intimately and while he still made some tragic mistakes in his life, he was referred to as a man after God’s own heart (1 Samuel 13:14; Acts 13:22). Our lives are truly empty without God in it. Our faith shouldn’t be a Sunday faith alone, but an everyday faith that grows as we walk with the Lord. If we cry out to Him He will hear us and respond in a way that is most beneficial to us.
Charles Spurgeon, great evangelist from the turn of the 20th century, tells us that the weakest cry from a ‘true’ believer will be heard by God. A true believer is one who has received forgiveness by the grace of God and is truly seeking to emulate his Lord in thought, word and deed. Are you a true believer or is your relationship with God of a casual nature? With eternity hanging in the balance it pays to know for sure.
WALK WITH THE KING TODAY AND BE A BLESSING!
* [The Treasure of David; www.spurgeon.org]
