Psalm 107 - Calling on the Lord

Psalm 107:4-5, 10-11, 17, 23-24,28 “Some wandered in desert wastes, finding no way to a city to dwell in; hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted within them....
Some sat in darkness and in the shadow of death, prisoners in affliction and in irons, for they had rebelled against the words of God, and spurned the counsel of the Most High...
Some were fools through their sinful ways, and because of their iniquities suffered affliction...
Some went down to the sea in ships, doing business on the great waters; they saw the deeds of the LORD,his wondrous works in the deep...
Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress.”

This past week, I heard a youth leader say “I have found that if you preach something, the devil is going to test you on it.” I second the thought. Every time I have written a devotional, I will find myself in a position where I have to live out or live through the very issue I addressed. I am also positive that the same thing will happen (or is happening) with this devotional – I will find myself where I must call out to the Lord.

Calling out to the Lord is a powerful thing. No matter if we call out because we put ourselves in a position of need or if we just ended up needing help, it makes no difference to God. He sees our heart, our innermost being, our soul, and He will respond according to His wisdom. His wisdom means that He won't respond in accordance with our wisdom or how we think He should respond. For example, the early church was persecuted horribly by the established religious groups of the day, including one young, zealous pharisee. The early church prayed for deliverance from the persecution and God responded two-fold. First God made the early believers even more visible, mighty miracles accompanied the believers and apostles wherever they went and the church grew like wildfire. Secondly, the Lord met the young, zealous Pharisee (who was named Saul) and Saul became a believer who then wrote about the joys of suffering persecution! The man who took joy in persecuting became a man who took pleasure and was joyful when he was persecuted! The Lord answered, just not how the people wanted Him to answer.

Problems will happen. Some problems may be of our own design while some we just seem to run into. We can sail the seas of blessings, but storms will rise us from time to time. We may find ourselves in those deserts which the Lord uses for training and teaching us, preparing us for His work. Sometimes we even find ourselves in the snare of the fowler or the pit of despair because we failed to follow the Lord and chose rather to take our own way on an issue. We have this assurance though – If we call, the Lord will answer. If we are beyond our own strength, we find ourselves in His. If we are lost without a guide we find that He is walking with us. If we find ourselves alone and despised, He is hugging us. If we are beyond the help of any other person, He will deliver us. Jesus came to “seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:10) and we often times discover that we are lost. Have no fear, Jesus will find us and will help us find our way because He is there with us!.

Commit thou all thy griefs
And ways into His hands,
To His sure truth and tender care,
Who heaven and earth commands.

Thou on the Lord rely,
So safe shalt thou go on;
Fix on His work thy steadfast eye
So shall thy work be done.