Answer Me When I Call

                                                                                Psalm 4

 

December 10, 2021

 

 

Answer Me When I Call

To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments. A Psalm of David.

Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness!  You have given me relief when I was in distress.  Be gracious to me and hear my prayer!   O men, how long shall my honor be turned into shame?  How long will you love vain words and seek after lies? Selah

But know that the Lord has set apart the godly for himself; the Lord hears when I call to him.   Be angry, and do not sin; ponder in your own hearts on your beds, and be silent. Selah

Offer right sacrifices, and put your trust in the Lord.  There are many who say, “Who will show us some good?
 Lift up the light of your face upon us, O Lord!”  You have put more joy in my heart than they have when their grain and wine abound.  In peace I will both lie down and sleep; for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety.

 

If we the Church could grasp those words that came from King David’s mouth, just five words; O God of my righteousness.  David understood that it was God who is righteous and that his only hope was not in himself but in God.  I’ve read that much of our poor health, heart issues, and other things are brought on by stress, so what did David do, he look to God and not to how the New York Times, CNN, or even Fox News had to say, could it be the answer to our fears of what is next and the unbelievable stress we are under is not found in a pill or a doctor but in setting our minds on having a discussion with our Father in heaven and the only one who knows all about us and still loves us.

 

What is faith?  Hebrews 11:1, “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”  Take a few minutes to ponder on that, assurance of things hoped for, you do that more often than you think when we get into a commercial aircraft we assume the pilot has been trained to fly that plane, and that a plane holding a couple of hundred people will land in the airport where your ticket states.  You just put faith in a lot of unseen, the pilot, the plane, and the ground crew that made sure it would have the right amount of fuel and the mechanic were skilled and did the job needed, and yet you did not see most of those people, in fact, you got on that plane without giving thought to I hope the guys that worked on this knew what they were doing, you just assumed it had happened.  So, when someone tells me I could never put my trust in what is unseen, I find it humorous, we put trust in people but will not put trust in the Creator, which is very foolish.

 

When I seek God, I have no doubt of Him hearing me but often the answer does not come in my timing, as I reflect back on my life, God has always answered, often I was too busy with my plans to hear the answer, or it was not the answer I wanted.  But reflection is a wonderful thing in that as I reflect on my life my Father has always brought me to a place of “I can’t you never said I could, He can and He promise He would.”  Being His child and having His Son Jesus Christ who is my life, has given me sonship and a family that is out of this world.  My hope is you find the peace and assurance of faith in the only true God and His only Son Jesus Christ.

 

From the Back Porch,

 

Bob Rice