Today is…

a fine day to cry out to the Lord.

“During that long period, the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned in their slavery and cried out, and their cry for help because of their slavery, went up to God.”  Exodus 2:23 NIV

Children are dependent upon their parents for love, guidance, discipline (although they may not care for it), protection and many other things, according to their ages and stages of development. No matter how old our children may get, they are always our children, and they are always dependent upon us for something, even when we reach old age.

As they have grown, and even after they have grown, we have encouraged them to cry out to us when they need help. From the earliest stages when the “crying out” was actual crying, complete with tears, we have responded out of love, concern and our sense of responsibility. As they grew older, perhaps the “crying out” was in the form of an email or a phone call.

Our relationship with God should be no different.

We are all His children no matter how big, old or self-reliant we become and we all should learn to cry out to the Lord when we need Him. Just as He heard the Israelites crying out in the land of Egypt, He will hear us no matter where we are.

Understanding how God responds to us is something that is developed over time, as we build a relationship with Him and grow comfortable with the fact that He may not always respond immediately, or even in the manner we would like. The closer we are to Him, the better our appreciation for His responses no matter when they come, or how they come.

One thing is certain: God loves us all and nothing stands in the way when we cry out in need.

“Lord, You know the hopes of the helpless. Surely You will hear their cries and comfort them.” (Psalm 10:17 NLT).

Unfortunately, many people only cry out to the Lord when they are in serious trouble. Often, the trouble is of their own making. Still, God hears and He responds. The problem is, when that is the only time we cry out, we are often not paying attention and can very easily miss the significance of the Lord’s response. In fact, some people may conveniently forget that they did, in fact, cry out for God’s help in the first place and place the credit for fixing the situation with themselves, instead of thanking God for His help.

While God would never ignore one of His children who is in distress, our primary focus should be on learning why He is always available to us when we need Him, and thanking Him for that very fact.

Building a relationship with God is the most important thing we can ever do, and it will help us understand why He is always there when we cry out to Him.

*******

Taken from “TODAY IS….A Gift From God”, (C) 2013 Tony Casson