god of ALL comfort... [part II]

I vividly remember the day. I could tell you everything about that moment; what I was wearing, how I felt, the music I heard from the frat boys room below mine. Something supernatural occurred in my heart as I overwhelmingly experienced the comfort of God in a moment of great need. I was curled up in  fetal position laying on the floor of my college dorm room, my world in pieces as I tried desperately to keep it together. I was 21 years-old, going through finals, my mom is battling brain cancer and literally dying in front of me, my 16 year-old sister was in rebellion to all rules and was living on her own, and my dysfunctional three-year relationship with Satan had just ended. In between the sobs and tears, I cried out to God and begged him to help me. Yes, my mom had cancer and my sister was on drugs and needed Jesus, but in that moment I needed help.

Matthew 15:21-28 documents an encounter of a woman who interceded for her daughter as well as herself. Like Martin Luther King, Jr. asked, let's see how she stands in the moment of challenge and controversy.

 In this passage we are told that Jesus and his disciples were traveling through gentile cities which Isaiah 23 tells us were not looked upon very favorably. A parallel account of this story, we are told that Jesus went into a house to rest from the crowds and throngs of people (Mark 7). She's obviously heard about Jesus because Luke 16 documents that word traveled from Jerusalem to Judea about the miracles, healings, and teachings he was doing! Multitudes of people had spread word about what he did for them or someone they knew.

So there she was. A gentile woman standing proxy for someone she loved probably outside the doors of the house. She was interceding for her severely demon-possessed daughter and Jesus was her only hope for healing. Loudly she cried out for Jesus to heal her daughter. He says nothing. Ouch! But we should never judge the Lord by the process, but rather the product of the process. His silence to this woman, like the silence to the psalmist who cried out for answers, like the silence we sometimes receive, reveals that he is not obligated to respond. The gentile woman, like us, had no basis on which to appeal to Jesus except to cling to his mercy. She cried out not once, not twice, but three times, with the final plea not being for her daughter, but for herself! It's at the point of complete surrender that the voice of Jesus can change our lives. And so it was in that moment, as it was in mine, that I was comforted by my God. O woman, great is your faith! Let it be to you as you desire (verse 28).

My God is the God of ALL comfort! He can heal the sick, the weak, the feeble, the hurting, the lame, the dead, and the desperate. Nothing is too big for our God (Luke 1:37)! Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need (Hebrews 4:16).

crying out...

Proverbs 2:3 ...if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding...

I was moved yesterday by a conversation with a friend that caused me such ache and pain. My friend had been falsely accused, draped in lies, and a victim of libel. This morning I was on my knees crying that Truth triumph over lies, honestly over vindictive slander. I read the conditional promise in Proverbs 2, but focused on verse 3, if you cry out. . . . The Bible makes a clear distinction between “prayer” and “crying out to God.” Have there been times in life that seem so hopeless, that even crying seems pointless? This is the exact setting God wants to move in to demonstrate His loving care and powerful hand of protection.

Crying out is a humble reminder of our total inability to accomplish anything significant for God. God’s promise to the prophet Jeremiah years ago is true even for us today. Call unto Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know (Jeremiah 33:3). The creator of the universe wants intimate, loving fellowship with the people He created. But a vital component to fellowship is an actual voicing aloud to Him our need for Him.

There are several Hebrew words that describe calling out, but there is one specific verb which generally connotes the action of calling out or crying out loud with great volume.The Hebrew verb is qara and it is the verb used in Jeremiah 33:3. King David used this verb often as we see in Psalms 50:15, Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me, and Psalms 145:18, The Lord is near to all those who call upon Him, to all who call upon Him in truth.

But what inhibits us? If crying out is a natural impulse, why is it so hard? Many of us find it humiliating and difficult to cry out for help in times of trouble. We prefer to be self-sufficient. We would rather endure tenaciously in the face of insurmountable odds and conclude with pride, I did it! But God works opposite to our lines of reasoning. He wants us to come to the conclusion, God did it! He asks that we recognize our weakness in order to experience His strength, so we can say with Paul, When I am weak, then I am strong. It takes a lot of humility to cry out to the Lord in our distress. But humility before the living God is what we precisely need!

Are you in a in desperate moment? Have you lost your job, persecuted by a professor, in bondage to sin, falsely accused? When Peter walked out to the Lord in Matthew 14:30-31 he was in desperate need for a miracle! If we need God to help in a desperate moment, I pray you call out like Peter: he cried out, ‘Lord save me!’ Immediately the Lord stretched out his hand and caught him.

Whatever your station in life, God wants to hear you cry out unto Him. He will show Himself faithful! “Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.”