To many people, prayer seems futile. It doesn’t seem to make sense and it doesn’t seem to be very effective. Why speak to someone you can’t see? And is it all just a bunch of wishful thinking? You know, the reality is that even Christians can have thoughts like these, and yet even in the midst of the greatest difficulty, I’m amazed that there’s a yearning within our hearts to cry out to God.
When a catastrophe like 9/11 happens or Hurricane Katrina, the immediate response for a large majority of people is to cry out to God and pray for those who are suffering. To ask God for relief or for God to work in a miracle to restore what was lost.
I think of Jeremiah who said he couldn’t help but speak the Word of God because it was shut up in his bones. He couldn’t contain it any more nor could he keep silent. This is similar to the verses from Psalm 118:5-8 which says:
Out of my distress I called on the LORD; the LORD answered me and set me free. The LORD is on my side; I will not fear. What can man do to me? The LORD is on my side as my helper; I shall look in triumph on those who hate me. It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in man.
Here the psalmist, in the midst of great distress, cries out to God. Why? Because the Lord is the all-sufficient refuge! He’s the only One we can turn to and know he hears and cares for us. The psalmist cries out to God because there is nothing else he can do, nothing else he can lay hands on that can give the comfort and refuge the Lord offers.
The amazing truth is that only by God’s grace will we cry out to him when we’re in the toughest moments of life, and if you’re experiencing some of those moments even now, I pray that you would be encouraged by this psalmist to find refuge in the Lord. If you aren’t in that moment right now, I pray that today you would again remind yourself that refuge in the Lord – and not things around us – is the surest hope for our lives. Nothing else in life can give us the security and refuge that our God freely gives. NOTHING – not careers, not insurance, not savings, not 401Ks, not even friends or family can give that kind of refuge. Only God can.
This week, as we sing, give and listen to the Word of God preached at Ventura Baptist Church in Holland MI, let’s pray for more of God’s mercy to shower down on us. He is our refuge and He is our strength! Place your hope in nothing less, than Jesus’ blood and righteousness.
Pastor Timothy Durey