Crying Out to the Lord for Help
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To whom do you call when trouble or danger appears?
The other day I heard a fellow talking about his fear of water. It seems he had almost drowned several years back at a Galveston beach and forever vowed to never get in the water again. But the thing that really caught my attention, and got me thinking about more than the story in general, was a particular statement that he made. He relayed that while being dragged out sea by a strong undertow, and swimming it seemed as hard as he could for an hour, he said “Several ‘Hail Marys’ and made up a bunch of other stuff.” What an incredible statement! Now understand, this was not then and is not now a “religious man” by any stretch of the imagination. You probably could tell as much by the statement he made. But when he really feared for his life, he cried out to God for help. Several thoughts came out of this account for me:
- Even the godless know on whom to call when they’re really in trouble. They may have neither given much serious thought to God before, nor have never made any substantial efforts to serve Him with any degree of true faith previously, but when life seemingly hangs in the balance they cry out to God.
- Also, despite this fellow not being a Catholic, and to my knowledge never having any association with Catholicism, he was saying “Hail Marys”! The Bible never states that anyone ever cried out to Mary for help in time of need. It does, however, record a plethora of people throughout the ages of biblical history who have cried out to the Lord in desperate times. I guess this part of the statement just goes to show the far-reaching effects of denominational error even upon the uninitiated.
- But the really amazing thing about what this guy said was that he admitted– even seemed to revel in the notion, that he just “made a bunch of stuff up”. I confess that I do not know exactly to what this refers. It could have been promises to faithfully commit to the Lord’s ways in exchange for extrication from the present distress, or it could have been some other sort of “religious sounding” statements made by a truly ignorant spiritual mind doing the best it could. Likewise, I suppose he could have meant that even he recognized the insincerity of his words. It was just an incredibly striking statement to me.
So I got to thinking. Obviously, there is a point to be made here that perhaps there are no true atheists when one faces seemingly imminent peril. This seems to me to be further evidence of the innate nature of man to recognize and acknowledge not only God’s existence, but also His power despite their previously spiritually unconcerned lives. Romans 1:18-19 states this as fact when it says, “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them.” (emphasis added– PCS).
But we should also concede the fact that acknowledging God in times of peril is certainly not bad! (see James 5:13a) True, we should all be willing not only to acknowledge God, but also to faithfully serve with our obedience to His will at all times rather than just in time of trouble. Still yet, to whom should we otherwise cry out when in despair??? While there is life and breath, all should confess God’s existence and power to save. Romans 14:11-12 “For it is written, ‘As I live says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall give praise to God.’ So then each one of us shall give account of himself to God.” There will come a time when such confessions will be too late. The rich man Luke 16 was perfectly willing to confess the Sovereignty of God after he was dead! Obviously, it is far better and eminently more beneficial to confess God while there is still “time” (cf. Hebrews 3:7,13,15; 4:7).
Don’t wait for bad circumstances to cause you to “cry out” to God for salvation. Do it now while there is time and opportunity to obey Him and live!