Cry Out!

My grandson Elijah and his mommy and daddy recently came to
visit. Baby Elijah is 9 months old and is such a bundle of sweet joy. He lights
up when Pappy (that would be me) walks into the room. There is always quite a
debate about who is his favorite. I am incredibly sure that I am.

I was reading very early one morning when I heard a noise.
Elijah’s daddy, Jared, was coming down the hall. “What’s up?” I asked him. He
told me that Elijah was awake. Strange,
I thought, because I had not heard him at all. When I asked Jared how he knew,
he said that he heard Elijah on the monitor—a handy little device that has a
microphone “speaker” in one room, and a listening “speaker” in the other room.

I walked to Elijah’s bedroom with Jared and we slowly opened
the door. Elijah was sitting in the Pack-n-Play smiling. He cannot talk yet, so
he was just making noises—loud ones. He
wasn’t crying. There were no tears. He was simply crying out.

Elijah was content but also ready to eat. He wasn’t trying
to crawl out of the bed. He wasn’t panicked or screaming. There was no attempt
to get up and get his own bottle or change his own diaper. Even at this young
age, he knew that when he cried out his
daddy would come. The noises he was making were merely his way of letting daddy
know that he was awake and it was time to attend to his needs. And I might add,
Jared readily and quite happily responded to his son.

In Psalm 22, David writes these
words, “When I cried to Him for help He heard me.” In
the first verses of this Psalm, David is overwhelmingly desperate. He declares,
“My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?” He even seems to believe, in
his desperation, that God does not hear. He implies that he feels abandoned and
cannot sleep.

And then in verse 9 there is an amazing transition. David
remembers that since he was born, God has been with him. He declares in fact,
that it was God who brought him forth from his mother’s womb. In verse 22, the
transition is so complete that he admonishes all who fear the Lord to “praise Him.” He proclaims that God never hid His
face from him, and that when he cried out for help, God heard him.

He finishes the Psalm with the surety that one day all the
ends of the earth, every family, every nation will come and declare His
righteousness.

This week you may be feeling alone in your Christ walk. You
might be feeling abandoned and even desperate. Perhaps you are frustrated
because it seems that heaven is silent and God is simply not listening. In your
humanity you may be trying to figure things out and “fix” life. Sleep escapes
you and peace won’t come. 

Consider this. Maybe it is time to get alone and simply
cry out. The words you use are not important. It is your heart that matters.
God is not far away. He has been there since you came forth from your mother’s
womb. He cares. He wants to meet your needs.

Often, we just need to come as a little child and cry out.
Whisper His name. Call out to Him. Lift up your voice. Be honest and open. He
can handle your hurts. He is not afraid of the pain you feel. And when you cry
out, you will find out that the “monitor” is on. He hears you when you cry
to Him for help and He will answer. I promise.

PRAYER POWER WEEK OF 3/21/2011

This week get alone
with God and simply cry out. Be
honest and open concerning what you feel, and declare His Word over your
situation and the burden of your heart. Thank Him that He is already directing
your steps and ask Him to continue to make you sensitive to His leading. Take
time to praise Him that He is ever present in your life and has promised to
never leave or forsake you. Continue to pray concerning our nation’s challenges
at home and abroad. Pray that our government leaders would seek God for
counsel, direction and strength, and that those with integrity would stand up
for God’s righteous ways. Ask God to intervene on behalf of JAPAN, and continue to pray for the Middle East and the nations struggling for freedom there. Pray for Israel and the
persecuted church. Ps. 37:23; Heb.
13:5-6; Ps. 22:27