EXPRESSIONS
Lord Answers, Leading Lovingly! (C.A.L.L)
Ramesh C. Reddy
Managing Editor
Hi
everyone :)
May you
know that you can call on the Lord anytime during your times of trouble and He
will answer you! Amen!
Announcements:
On Thursday night, InterVarsity Christian Fellowship will be having their Mark
Manuscript Small Group Bible study introductory meeting at 8:30 p.m in New Hope
Christian Community.
New Hope Christian Community is located on North Dithridge Street right opposite
to Webster Hall and St. Paul's Cathedral church on Fifth Ave and will be having
a POT LUCK LUNCH after church this Sunday, Sept 01, 02. The worship service
starts at 11:00 a.m.
Quiet
Times (Psalm 86, Proverbs 26, and Mark 1)
“In the day of my trouble I will
call to you, for you will answer me.” (Psalm 86:7)
I learned the confidence the Psalmist had in the Lord
after reading this verse. He lets the Lord know that when he is troubled, for
the Lord to expect a call from him. Not only that, but he lets the Lord also
know he believes the Lord will answer him as evidenced by ‘you will answer’
referring to the Lord.
Reading this verse made me think about the telephone.
When people are in danger of trouble, they usually call 911 and expect an answer
from the police station for they believe the police are there to ‘serve and
protect’. There is nothing wrong with that. In this situation a real physical
phone system has to be used to contact the police.
Some call their friends and family members and expect
them to answer their call for help. Usually, there could be telephone charges,
surcharges, telephone card hassles, and even long-distance charges such as if a
student runs out of money and calls mommy or daddy for money as an example or if
someone is so drunk they have to use the telephone to make a call.
What is exciting is that’s not the case when we place a
call to the Lord. There is no hassle of pressing the right buttons, no need for
telephone cards, long-distances charges and surcharges, or looking for the right
change. Instead, all that is needed is a willing spirit to trust and place a
call to the Lord using our voice whether it is out loud or silently in our mind.
There is another significant concept I learned here.
People may just shout to call for help using their voice and usually people
around them could answer unless they are so ingrained with bystander apathy.
When it comes to the Lord, the Psalmist believes
confidently to receive an answer when he places a call to Heaven. He does not
expect an answering machine to pick up and hear, “Sorry, I am not available
right now so please leave a message and I will get back to you.”
On the contrary, when it comes to the Lord he tells the
Lord that he is already expecting an answer and that’s why in his trouble he
seeks after the Lord.
I found important implications for our own lives here.
When we do call on the Lord, He is never busy to put us on hold but always
available. He will respond to our call no matter how many times we call Him and
He can answer us.
I believe the Lord’s answer comes in 3 ways:
1. Yes, I will take care of it for you now.
2. No, but I will give you the strength to endure
through it.
3. Wait, for me and trust in me to get you through this
and have patience for in my timing things will be resolved.
The Psalmist knew that in his troubles he could always
depend and rely on the Lord. He does not expect not to have any troubles but
amidst the trouble to have the Lord help him.
I ask you now dear friends, when
do you place a call?
Dear friend, when things are going well it is so easy to
place tons of calls to the Lord to praise Him and thank Him. We may not even
expect the Lord to let us know that ‘we are welcome’. In our jubilation, we just
want to call on the Lord and raise our praises to Him.
But, what about when we have days
of trouble? Then what? In my own life, it has been so easy to call on the
Lord and praise Him when things were going my way and I was happy. It has been
much more difficult to call on the Lord when I am troubled. But our praises
should inhabit the Lord always and I have faltered on that :(
Rather, I have had the tendency to try to fix
stuff myself but usually I miserably fail. I don’t drink but I have used other
escape mechanisms in my troubles such as ‘isolating myself from people and the
church community’, ‘hitting the sack and trying to sleep away the trouble,
watching TV like a couch potato, and eating whatever edible food I could find in
front of me if it is mine.
Doing all these things becomes harmful in the long run
and just shoves the trouble under the rug for the time being. When stuff is
shoved under a rug, it will still be there. On the surface everything will look
clean but under the surface when the rug is kicked or moved all that yucky stuff
surfaces!
It has not disappeared and then people may put a call
to professional cleaners to come and clean that stuff. If they had done it
before shoving it, it would have been a lot easier.
Sadly, we all can have a tendency to either shove the
problems we have under or try to handle them our way. In the end, we may realize
that we cannot handle it on our own and then go to a professional. In many
cases, people going to the Lord for help as a last resort who is the Master
Professional!
What has happened here for us?
Placing a call to the Lord became a last resort and most of the damage
has already been done because in our puny minds we thought we could handle our
own troubles without any help. But, then we realized we did need help.
Friend, I learned to call on the Lord should never be
our last resort but always our first resort. This past Sunday stuff happened
that I was very disappointed and troubled. Instead, rather than pouring out my
heart to the Lord, I made the mistake of hitting the sack and trying to sleep it
away. Guess what? It did not help a bit when I woke
up. What was troubling me was still there.
You know what did help out?
When I woke up, I said to myself, “I need to trust in the Lord no matter what
happens and turn my troubles into prayer to the Lord.”
That is what I did and I was helped tremendously. How
much agony and grief I would have spared if I had done that from the beginning!
I would have even saved valuable time.
You know as my thoughts turned to the Lord, He brought
to my mind what He had taught me from the ‘Parable of the Talents’. I felt
little better. Then today, I was able to meet with my pastor and the Lord helped
me see the situation in a different light from my pastor’s perspective. I did
feel much better.
My pastor’s advice supplemented the verse I learned
today, “In my day of trouble I will call to you and you
will answer me.”
I said to myself if the Psalmist can do that and is
doing that, I am going to do that too and have confidence in the Lord.
So friend, don’t wait to call on the Lord in the last
minute but may you keep your thoughts on the Lord during the times of joy and in
anticipation of trouble for He wants to hear from you. He loves you so much and
wants to help you. Won’t you come to Him right now with whatever you are going
through and call Him. You don’t need any numbers, any cards, any wiring but just
your heart seeking after the Lord. The Lord promises in Jeremiah 29 that
when you seek after Him, you will find Him. Yes,
you will! Oh yes, the Lord wants to help you very much.
No matter what the issue is whether it is academic,
relational, career, family oriented, etc, the Lord waits for your call to talk
to Him. Isn’t that exciting that someone waits for you to
listen to you and answer you? He is the Lord and wants to be your Lord
and Personal Savior if you allow Him to.
Christ Answers Leading Lovingly! (C.A.L.L)/”How
do you handle your call?”
May you make this your prayer:
Dear Jesus, I read that the
Psalmist had so much confidence in you that he was able to tell you that in his
day of trouble he will call you and you will answer him. Jesus, I want to have
that same confidence in you. Lord, it has not been easy when things have gone
wrong. There are times I have tried to fix it on my own and used you as a last
resort. I would fail anyway. I am sorry that I don’t come to you first always
with my problems and many times try to shove them under the rug. But, that
creates more mess and then I expect you to come and clean it up. I want to say I
am so thankful for your grace for when I have done that too, in your mercy you
have come and rescued me and cleaned stuff up in my life. Thank you Jesus. I
love you Jesus. Help us to always call on you Jesus. Thank you for answering us
in your loving way. We know when we do get an answer from you, it is for our
good. For you promise us in your Word in Jeremiah 29:11-13 that you know the
plans you have for us and they are plans for good and not for evil, to give us a
future and a hope. Also, when we seek after you, we will find you. Thank you we
can call you anytime Jesus during the 24-hrs of the day. That is exciting! And
Lord, please help us to be receptive to take the help you provide from your
community. I thank you for those you have given us to help us in our days of
trouble. I pray right now for the one who is dealing with troubles in their own
lives. You know all our troubles and please be patient with those who don’t come
to you right away. I thank you that in your love you wait for us. Thank you for
hearing us and answering us Jesus. I acknowledge you as my Lord and personal
Savior. In Your Name I Pray Jesus! Amen!
Love in Christ,
Ramesh
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