In my distress I called upon the LORD, and cried unto my God: He heard my voice out of His temple, and my cry came before Him, even into His ears
PSALM 18:6
Hey Friend,
How are you? The rain is continuing it’s onslaught but after the fantastic summer, we know it’s needed.
I’m continuing with a deep dive into Psalm 18, picking up at verse 6.
I don’t know about you, but I’ve cried out to God in my distress many times. The Hebrew for ‘distress’ is sar which means: narrow, tight, straights, adversary, oppressor, tribulation and trouble amongst other things. It is a reminder that no matter what we face, no matter the type of distress – we can always call on God.
The verse goes on to say that God ‘heard my voice.’ The word for ‘heard’ is šāma‘ and the meaning is interesting: to hear, listen, obey, to hear with attention or interest, to understand, to consent, agree, grant request.
What stands out to you from that list?
For me, I go to ‘hear with attention or interest’ first.
Sometimes, others are talking to us and we’re not really paying attention. Or we’re speaking and we know the person we’re speaking to really isn’t interested in what we have to say.
But here, the Psalmist says that God not only listens, but He listens attentively and He understands how we feel.
Then I go to ‘obey’ because what do you mean? God doesn’t obey me. I obey God, right?
I needed to sit with this for a while and the Holy Spirit allowed me to understand that it’s not God obeying me, but rather, obeying His word.
So shall My word be that goeth forth out of My mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.
ISAIAH 55:11
God’s word will do what He said and therefore, the ‘obey’ relates to us speaking God’s word. It is our sword after all.
When we declare God’s word over our lives, that is what God ‘obeys’. When I say God has not given me a spirit of fear but of power, love and a sound mind (2 Timothy 1:7), He wages war against fear for me and increases my confidence in Him.
When I say the Lord is my Rock, my fortress, my deliverer (Psalm 18:2), I am resting and trusting in His divine protection.
God will perform His word. We need to speak it out over ourselves, over our families, over our communities by faith, which leads us to the last point: to consent, agree, grant request.
I’m sure there have been times when you’ve prayed and your request was not granted. I know there have been those times for me.
But was it that those prayers weren’t answered? Or were they just not answered in the way we wanted?
God is sovereign. His word will not pass away. So I think when things don’t turn out as desired, we have to consider there’s a bigger picture that we just can’t see.
It goes back to faith and trusting God knows what He’s doing.
I can bet anyone reading this who doesn’t believe in God will say that’s a cop-out.
I disagree.
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
HEBREWS 11:1
Hebrews 11:6 also states that without faith, it is impossible to please God.
He will do what He has declared in His word. Out part is to have faith that He will do it.
Love and blessings xx
