HE HEARD MY CRY

Text: Psalm 18:7-19-

In his book Angels, Billy Graham relates the story told by Reverend John G. Paton, a trail-blazing missionary in the South Pacific in the New Hebrides Islands.  The story illustrates how God provides angels to protect and care for His believers.

One night Paton and his wife found themselves threatened by hostile natives who surrounded their mission headquarters.  The Patons thought for sure that the natives would burn down the headquarters and kill them both.  They prayed throughout the night asking God to protect them from harm.  The next morning they were astonished when they realized that the natives had gone away.  They had no idea where or why they had left.  The missionaries again prayed and thanked the Lord for saving them.

About a year later, the chief of the native tribe who had threatened them became a Christian.  He came to visit the Patons.  When he was asked about the incident of that night of terror, the chief told the Patons that he and his men were too fearful to carry out their plans of attack.  They had seen an army of giant men in “shining garments with drawn swords in their hands” surrounding the mission grounds.  Paton and the chief agreed that there was no explanation other than that God had sent angels to keep the missionaries from harm.

Sept. 4, 1844—Only one cent [one farthing] was in my hands this morning. Pause a moment, dear reader! Only one cent [one farthing] in hand when the day commenced! Think of this, and think of nearly fourteen hundred persons to be provided for. You, poor brethren, who have six or eight children and small wages, think of this; and you, my brethren who do not belong to the working classes, but have as it is called, very limited means, think of this! May you not do, what we do, under your trials? Does the Lord love you less than He loves us? Does He not love all His children with no less love than that with which He loves His only begotten Son, according to John  17:20-23? Or are  we better than  you?... Well, let us hear then, how God helped when there was only one cent [one farthing] left in my hands, on the morning referred to [Sept. 4, 1844].

Shortly after nine o'clock I received five dollars [a sovereign] from a sister in the Lord, who does not wish the name of the place where she resides mentioned. Between ten and eleven  o'clock the bag was sent from the Orphan Houses, in which a note stated that nearly six dollars [£1 2s.] was required for today. Scarcely had I read this when a carriage stopped before my house, and a gentleman, from the neighborhood of Manchester, was announced. I found that he was a believer, who had come on business to Bristol. He had heard about the Orphan Houses, and expressed his surprise that without any regular system of collections, and without personal application to anyone, simply by faith and prayer, I obtained more than $10,000 [£2000] annually for the work of the Lord in my hands. This brother, whom I had never seen before, and whose name I did not even know before he came, gave me ten dollars [£2], as an exemplification of what I had stated to him.

Charles Inglis, the well-known evangelist, relates the following remarkable incident:

"When I first came to America thirty-one years  ago,  I  crossed  the Atlantic with the captain of a steamer who was one of the most devoted men I ever knew; and when we were off the banks of Newfoundland he said to me: 'Mr. Inglis, the last time I crossed here, five weeks ago, one of the most extraordinary things happened that has completely revolutionized the whole of my Christian life. Up to that time I was one of your ordinary Christians. We had a man of God on board, George Muller, of Bristol. I had been on that bridge for twenty-two hours and never left it. I was startled by someone tapping me on the shoulder. It was George Muller.

"'Captain,' said he, 'I have come to tell you that I must be in Quebec  on  Saturday afternoon.' This was Wednesday.

"'It is impossible,' I said.

"'Very well, if your ship can't take me God will find some other means of locomotion to take me. I have never broken an engagement in fifty-seven years.'

"'I would willingly help you, but how can I? I am helpless.'

"'Let us go down to the chart room and pray,' he said.

"I looked at this man and I thought to myself, 'What lunatic asylum could the man have come from? I never heard of such a thing.'

"'Mr. Muller,' I said, 'do you know how dense this fog is?'

"'No,' he replied, 'my eye is not on the density of the fog, but on the living God, who controls every circumstance of my life.'

"He went down on his knees, and he prayed one of the most simple prayers. I thought to myself, 'That would suit a children's class, where the children were not more than eight or nine years of age.' The burden of his prayer was something like this: 'O Lord, if it is consistent with Thy will, please remove this fog in five minutes. You know the engagement You made for me in Quebec for Saturday. I believe it is Your will.'

"When he had finished, I was going to pray, but he put his hand on my shoulder and told me not to pray.

"'First,' he said, 'you do not believe God will do it; and, second, I believe He has done it. And there is no need whatever for you to pray about it.'

"I looked at him, and George Muller said this: 'Captain, I have known my Lord for fifty-seven years and there has never been a single day that I have failed to gain an audience with the King. Get up, Captain and open the door, and you will find the fog is gone.' I got up, and the fog was gone. On Saturday afternoon George Muller was in Quebec."

From An Hour With George Müller: the Man of Faith to Whom God Gave Millionsedited by A. Sims. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan Publishing House, ©1939.

What happens on the Heaven side when a man on earth prays the will of God?

Who God Is (1-6)

“David allowed his view of the world to be shaped by who God is, rather than by what he would be facing.” -Ross Lester

Rock- He is my FOUNDATION

Fortress- He is my PROTECTOR- I run INTO HIM

Deliverer- He is my SAVIOR - He runs UNTO Me

Strength- He is my REST

Buckler- He is my SHIELD

Horn- He is my VICTORY

High Tower- He is my REFUGE

How God Moves and Acts on our Behalf (7-19)

This passage describes a theophany.

Job 26:14: “Lo, these are parts of his ways: But how little a portion is heard of him? But the thunder of his power who can understand?”

Awesome- great POWER

THE STORM OF GOD APPROACHES AN UNWAITING WORLD

smoke-

Isaiah 6:4: “And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke.”

always associated with the holiness of God

nostrils- the organ of anger

Job 41:20: “Out of his nostrils goeth smoke, As out of a seething pot or caldron.”

fire-

Deuteronomy 4:24: “For the Lord thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God.”

fire is synonymous with divine jealousy and God’s intolerance for iniquity

coals-

Ezekiel 10:4: “Then the glory of the Lord went up from the cherub, and stood over the threshold of the house; and the house was filled with the cloud, and the court was full of the brightness of the Lord’s glory.”

Isaiah 6-

Alert- great KNOWLEDGE

He is coming!

The invisible glory of God, unknown to the world and unrecognized at times in our lives, is coming.

Isaiah 45:15: “Verily thou art a God that hidest thyself, O God of Israel, the Saviour.”

Isaiah 57:17: “For the iniquity of his covetousness was I wroth, and smote him: I hid me, and was wroth, And he went on frowardly in the way of his heart.”

Psalm 44:24: “Wherefore hidest thou thy face, And forgettest our affliction and our oppression?”

John 13:5-7: “After that he poureth water into a bason, and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded. Then cometh he to Simon Peter: and Peter saith unto him, Lord, dost thou wash my feet? Jesus answered and said unto him, What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter.”

WE DON’T ALWAYS KNOW WHAT GOD IS DOING— HOW HE IS FEELING—

Maybe at times, David thought that God did not know…did not care…did not understand what He was going through…but our great God is alert to your needs!

Have you ever gone through a storm in your life and thought that the Lord was hiding from you? You could not see God…track God…understand His ways…know His plan...

EXODUS-

EXODUS 2:23: “And it came to pass in process of time, that the king of Egypt died: and the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up unto God by reason of the bondage.”

Exodus 3:7: “And the Lord said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows;”

Attentive- great CONDESCENSION

He came down!

PSALM 113: “Praise ye the Lord. Praise, O ye servants of the Lord, Praise the name of the Lord. Blessed be the name of the Lord From this time forth and for evermore. From the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same The Lord’s name is to be praised. The Lord is high above all nations, And his glory above the heavens. Who is like unto the Lord our God, Who dwelleth on high, Who humbleth himself to behold The things that are in heaven, and in the earth! He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, And lifteth the needy out of the dunghill; That he may set him with princes, Even with the princes of his people. He maketh the barren woman to keep house, And to be a joyful mother of children. Praise ye the Lord.”

HE CAME DOWN TO DWELL WITH US

cherubs/flying/wind- this is the language of holiness and dwelling with God

Ezekiel 1:4: “And I looked, and, behold, a whirlwind came out of the north, a great cloud, and a fire infolding itself, and a brightness was about it, and out of the midst thereof as the colour of amber, out of the midst of the fire.”

Genesis 3:24: “So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.”

Exodus 26:31: “And thou shalt make a vail of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen of cunning work: with cherubims shall it be made:”

Exodus 26:33: “And thou shalt hang up the vail under the taches, that thou mayest bring in thither within the vail the ark of the testimony: and the vail shall divide unto you between the holy place and the most holy.”

THE GOD THAT DWELLS BETWEEN THE CHERUBIMS IS COMING DOWN TO DWELL WITH US!

you might say, “He has to come through!” Well, he really doesn’t— but He promised to never leave us or forsake us.

What Does David’s Story Teach us About God? (whole chapter divisions)

Psalm 18 is a Messianic Psalm, meaning that it points us to Messiah. The Apostle Paul quotes Psalm 18:49 in the book of Romans, by saying, “And that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy; as it is written, For this cause I will confess to thee among the Gentiles, and sing unto thy name.”’

Look in the description of the Psalm- David, the servant of the LORD— the servant of Jehovah. Jesus is the servant of Jehovah.

His DEATH (1-6)

His RESURRECTION (7-18)

His EXALTATION (19-27)

His VICTORY (28-42)

His KINGDOM (43-50)

‌Colossians 1:24-25: “Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church: Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfil the word of God;”

“Trouble borne in the Spirit of Jesus Christ produces greatness in the life of the believer.” -Lee Roberson