Calling on the Lord

Pray

Introduction

Today’s verse of encouragement comes at the start of a psalm where the psalmist has his back against the wall, so to speak.

And he cries out to God - he calls out - he shouts to God in his anguish and distress and the Lord answers him

Psalm 120:1 NIV

I call on the Lord in my distress, and he answers me.

Now this verse is a simple one, and the point of this verse is simple, and the application is simple. And the encouragement is simple - and yet it’s something that we can often forget.

Let’s look at an example from nature.

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Nature is amazing. And the way we have been created just blows me away.

So if you were to put my girls in a room with 50 other children and blindfold me, I could detect Naomi or Bethany crying from all the other children.

There have been times when it’s been bucketing down and we go to an indoor soft-play centre and let the kids run around, and in all the noise there (and there’s a lot of noise) if one of my children cry and I hear it, I can tell it’s one of mine and not someone else’s child.

There’s something amazing about that.

But there are times in all the noise that I don’t hear my child scream until they are close to me…Not so with God.

This verse is an encouragement to us because for God to answer our prayer he has to hear our prayer. So when you call out to God in your distress you can be sure that God will hear your prayer.

And God hears and knows your cry over everyone else’s.

But before we get onto that - look at the first couple of words.

The psalmist is calling out to the Lord in his distress.

Think of someone calling for help. I’m sure you’ve seen films like this, where a young girl who has no sense, walks down a dark alley by herself and the music gets tense and next thing someone steps out from nowhere. The girl screams and shouts for help - it’s an act of desperation. It’s a genuine call for help…that’s what the psalmist is doing here.

He is in distress - his back is against the wall. The enemy is closing in and he cries out - he screams to the Lord, “HELP ME!!”.

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Have you ever felt like that? Has life ever got so bad or things gotten on top of you that you feel like crying, either literally crying or you feel like screaming? Has it ever got the the point when you just want to scream for someone to help you?

This verse reminds us that when we cry out to the Lord in our distress, he WILL answer us.

So you can be sure, you can be 100% certain that God will answer your prayer. That’s something you can take to the bank.

But the answer may not be what you hoped it would be. For some, it might be. In some instances, it might be…but often the answer is NOT what we were expecting.

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Many times during the day or week, Naomi comes into the kitchen and asks for food. I can’t fill the girl - she’s like her dad!

And many times I give her something to eat, and I try to give her something healthy like fruit or something like that.

But every now and then - well, pretty much every day, she would ask for junk, like sweets or some easter egg (that’s right, we STILL have easter egg left). So Naomi will ask me for sweets and I will answer her.

Sometimes I let her have some. Sometimes I let her have 1. Most times I tell her no, and sometimes she goes off in a huff because she hasn’t got what she asked for.

And at the minute, I can’t reason with her, but you know where I’m coming from - it’s not good for me to give sweets to Naomi all the time. It’s really bad for her teeth, her weight - I could be leading her down a road to diabetes and so on. So as her father, if I’m to be any way a decent father, I have to say no to sweets all the time.

But every now and then I say yes. And every now and then I say, wait…wait until after dinner and then you can have some.

And I do that because I know what’s best for my child. She doesn’t know what’s best for her because her level of understanding isn’t at the same level as mine. She doesn’t know the repercussions of constantly eating sweets, but I do.

Now, take that and expand it exponentially...

We think that WE know best in our lives. We think that WE know what should happen to us and what shouldn’t happen to us. We think that WE have a say in the events in our lives for OUR best…But do we?

We’re a lot like Naomi when it comes to God.

God knows what’s best for us. God knows exactly what we need - he knows exactly what circumstances can make us into better people. Or he knows exactly what to give us in all situations.

We don’t know what’s good for us because our level of understanding is limited, but God DOES know what’s good for us because his level of understanding is unlimited.

So when we pray or when we call out to God in our distress, you can be sure he will answer you…but the answer might not be the answer you want.

Naomi wants to hear, ‘yes’ every time she asks if she can have sweets. And it’s not always the case.

For us, when we cry out to God, the answer might be, ‘yes’, but it might be, ‘no’ and it might also be, ‘wait’.

But it doesn’t mean that God doesn’t HEAR us, it means that he knows what’s best for us. And we’ve got to trust in that and believe in that.

Jesus said the same in ...

Matthew 7:7–11 NIV

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. “Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!

Matthew 10:29–31 NIV

Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.

So Jesus says - ask, by all means ask…and keep on asking (that’s what the Greek means). And by all means seek and keep on seeking. And by all means knock and keep on knocking.

And Jesus continues, in line with my story about Naomi...

If your child asks for food, you’d give them food - not something that looks like food but will actually hurt them or even kill them. We know how to give our children what’s best for them.

And if they ask for food, you’d give them

And we’re not the best people in the world - we’re sinful - Jesus goes as far as to say we’re evil. So if we are evil and know what’s best for our children. If I’m evil and I know what’s best for Naomi - just take a step back and think of how much MORE will God give us what we NEED when we ask him...

But there’s a difference between what we NEED and what we WANT.

Cos Naomi often says to me, ‘Daddy, I need some sweets’. And I reply, ‘NO - you WANT some sweets’. There’s a difference.

And we need to remember that God knows what we NEED and he will give us what we NEED, but perhaps not what we WANT.

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So in your distress, what you want it to get out of it - get freed from it. But what you might NEED is to be taught how to rely on God - and in the hard times that’s when you’re taught that.

Think of Moses and the Israelites in the wilderness - the trip from Egypt to Canaan takes 11 days… ELEVEN DAYS, but they were in the wilderness for 40 years. That’s about 14,600 days longer than it should have taken. WHY???

Because God wanted to teach them something that they NEEDED to learn - that God is their only source and that he must be obeyed.

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So in your distress, call onto the Lord. He will hear you and he will answer you - but trust the answer that he gives. Because if the distress doesn’t immediately disappear, try to rethink the situation you’re in and think to yourself, ‘the Lord loves me enough and values me so much that he wants to teach me something in this and make me a better person.’

That’s how James could tell his readers to consider it joy when you face trials of various kinds.

James 1:2 NIV

Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds,

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One last thing before we go...

Call out to God in your distress and he WILL answer you. But better than that is calling out to God when the times are good.

Don’t just wait until things to pear-shaped before you call on the Lord. He loves it when we talk to him. And the more we call on the Lord in the good times, and spend time with him, the easier it will be to hear his voice and accept his response when he answers.

Let’s pray.