Distress Cry To God

In my distress I called to the LORD; I cried out to my God for help. From his temple he heard my voice; my cry came before him, into his ears. Psalm 18: 6.

We have noted, God’s testimony of His servant David. This is not the testimony of human beings, but the testimony of Almighty God. He speaks of David, as a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do. Acts 13: 22b. It is this man, whom God exalts, who today, is in distress. Whatever is causing him this distress, the bottom line is that he is in distress and needs help. David is not too holy, too spiritually minded, too uplifted, to admit the truth about what is happening in his life. He is not afraid, nor is he ashamed, to admit that he, this mighty warrior, is in distress.

Do you know what it is to be in distress?

Distress is darkness, for it keeps you bound in the darkness of fear and uncertainty.
Distress is powerlessness, for it robs you of all that you have and relegates you to a place of utter helplessness.
Distress can corrupt the mind, and force you into actions and behaviours, which only harm you in the long run.
Distress is no respecter of persons, as we note with this mighty man of God.

But what are we to receive from David? What is this snapshot, showing us that will help to lift us in our times of distress? One sure fact is that distress comes to us, not always because of our wrong doing, but because we are in the will of God and doing His work. Do you remember, when John the Revelator showed us the twenty-four elders in worship to God? This fact about God was lifted high. You created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being. As simple and perhaps silly, as this may seem to some, I have seen that David’s distress was in the will of God.

Another faith-holding fact we receive from David, is his attitude in his distress. He does not try to help himself by trying to do lots of things, desirable or not. He straightway calls on his God. Be honest here. Is it not true that many of us, when we are faced with issues and fears, seek the experts first, and then seek God? Is it not true also, especially in the smaller matters, we do what we can and only when we fail to find peace and rest, we call to God? David calls to God first. Hand in hand with this faith-holding fact of challenging us to call to God in our distress, is the picture of David crying out to his God.

Let’s take it step by step, in this viewing and hearing. David first calls to the LORD, then we hear him as he cries out to the LORD. When you cry out to anyone for help, when you reach out to others for help, it means that you know that you can’t help yourself any longer. It means that you know that things are not just beyond you – your strength, your power and your efforts – but they have overtaken you and you are dangerously low. David is in this same predicament, but he is able to cry out with all that is within him, to his God. I cried out to my God for help. Did you hear that? Do you see, do you understand, do you get this unbroken intimacy, communion and oneness with Yahweh? In his time of distress, he is crying out, not to Israel’s God, not to Jacob’s God, and not even to his father’s God. He is crying out to his God. God is personal to him, as his Father, his Shepherd, his Fortress and his Protector.

To be able to acknowledge God as our Father, our Friend, our Deliverer, our Comfort, our Guide and our Guard, means that we are living with Him, in obedience to His way and will. It means that all our steps are ordered by His will and that we are in His will. Therefore, when the evils of this world come, and they must come, as Jesus has clearly stated, In this world you will have trouble, John 16: 33b, we must be in the Lord God and know His promises. It is because He has promised all of us, even today, that He has overcome the world, you can confidently cry out to your God, who is Victor over every distress you face.