Heard and Helped

“The state of the church calls for unceasing prayer.” – Andrew Murray

I cry out loud to God.  I call to God, and he will hear me. –Psalm 77:1 (NCV)

The believer seeks to be helped.  He cries out to God, seeking God’s help for him.  The believer wants God’s help.  He needs God’s help.  The believer cries out in prayer, seeking the help of God.

In order to get God’s help, the believer needs to be heard by God.  The believer’s desire to be helped is a high priority, but his desire to be heard ranks right up there with being helped.  The believer has to believe in God’s ability to help him as well as God’s ability to hear him.  The believer needs to be heard by God to be helped by God.

This psalm of Asaph expresses the distress of a man in need.  He appears at the end of his wits.  He seems to be on edge, on the verge of losing it all.  He was in a desperate place.  He was in a place where he knew that he needed God to intervene on his behalf.  Just look at his approach.  He cried “out loud” to God.  He called to God.  

Verses 3 through 12 of the psalm show the process of consideration and contemplation that the man went through, meditating, thinking, recalling, remembering, and more.  He ends up recognizing God’s miraculous ways and His mighty works.  He ends up thinking on God’s care for His own flock, the tribe of Israel, and how He cared for them, leading them like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron (v. 20, NIV).

God is willing to hear you.  God has all of the help that you need at his disposal.  He can help you.  Will you cry out to Him? Will you submit your will to His will? Will you share your prayers with God? He will hear you.  He can help you.