have hungers that need to be satisfied!
Recently, I have been praying for people facing some very difficult circumstances: cancer, job loss, marriage problems, and tense times. You know, even though we have all gone through our valleys from time to time, it’s never quite the same as what someone else may be experiencing. And yet, God puts us in another person’s life to be an encouragement, to be a friend, to be a prayer partner.
Prayer partners are so important. Sometimes, we just don’t know how to pray in the midst of our own situation. At times, I know for myself, God has really spoken to me through the prayers of my prayer partner. Something she prays out loud just pierces my heart, as they say!
Her words, spoken in faith, will just resonate for me about God’s faithfulness. And His WORD, spoken in faith, breathes life back into my soul. To “fear” Him, which means to truly stand in reverent awe of His power and His amazing love, is most certainly the first place to be. In fact, I like the phrase “to be desperate for Him”.
In verse 19, I sense some desperation in David’s voice. He had been a fugitive running for his very life! He certainly had some big time needs.
Maybe we feel at times like we are running for our lives. We might be in a desperate situation. And though we already know that our greatest need is for salvation and a right relationship with God through Jesus, we also surely have physical problems, struggles and mountains in our lives that need to be dealt with.
Verse 19 suggests an important solution: cry out to Him. God always beckons us to come to Him, even though He is already aware of our circumstance. It is our act of faith and trust, communicating with Him, inviting Him into our situation, that will release His power to bring comfort, peace and solutions. This may sound like an over-simplification, but this really is the blueprint we’ve been given.
Matthew Chapter 7, verse 7 holds some timeless famous words of Jesus: “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; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.” Persistence, never wavering trust, and patience are at work here. We align ourselves with whatever God’s best is for us, and we have confidence that, because He is love, and He is altogether good and righteous, it will work out well for us.
He follows up those words with the analogy of how a loving parent responds to his child. If that child asks for bread, would the parent give him a stone? If he asks for a fish, will he give him a snake?
There was a time when my husband was out of work, we were out of cash, with a pile of bills, 3 young boys and a dog and I was literally on my face daily crying out to God, “I know You have promised to be our help, our provider, our strength. Lord, I am trusting you, but so far I am not seeing a solution to our immediate problems. “ I was desperate!
So, one day, I wiped away my tears and cleaned up the house a bit, with a heavy heart, wondering how much longer we’d be able to stay in it. Do you know what happened? The phone rang.
It was our pastor. He asked if he could stop by for a minute. He was in the neighborhood.
What? I was sure glad I had just finished cleaning up a bit! It could get pretty hairy with 3 boys under the age of 8 running around. “Sure,” I said. “Is something wrong?”
(Why does my mind go there? But, this was a first. I was not a “friend” of the pastor that he would just be stopping in for a visit.)
Well, no sooner did I hang up the phone and, literally, he was pulling into my driveway. I was actually surprised he knew where we lived……..
I welcomed him in, offered him a glass of water, which he refused. “No, thanks. I am only here as a messenger and I’ll be on my way. Somebody at church, who wants to remain anonymous, asked me to deliver this to you with love and prayers for your family.”
He handed me an envelope. I was shaking. This was way too weird. Twilight Zone weird. As my quivering hands struggled to open the envelope, it revealed a large stack of $20 bills, I estimated at least several hundred dollars. A gasp of astonishment escaped before I knew it, and I could not control the tears running down my face. I was speechless.
Pastor said, “Evidently, God spoke to someone about your need. Be blessed. Be encouraged. I’ll see you Sunday. Bye, now.”
LORD, we praise You, our faithful, Covenant God. You are worthy of all honor and praise, because You are altogether good, wise, powerful and timely. Nothing is too hard for You. I am grateful that You have invited me to dwell beneath the shadow of Your wings. I believe. Amen.
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