God Speaking

“The Lord is near to all who call on him; all who call on him in truth.”

(Psalm 145: 18)

All my family, especially my grownup grandchildren, are always assuring me how wonderful technology is, but I must disagree, quietly to myself, because I find it very frustrating at times. Power outages cause chaos, but the most exasperating thing I find is how impossible it is to talk to a real person on the telephone, automated voices that you can’t reason with or shout at, seem to answer every phone call to some business or office you call and to add to the frustration “please hold we will be with you shortly”, is repeated over and over again, in-between annoying music.  I was thinking about this when I was reading one of David’s psalms, he often called God, but no automated voices answered him, always the loving voice of the Heavenly Father was there, listening carefully. 

This is the same incredible privilege we have as God’s precious children; we can call him at any time, in the middle of the night, in the dark when we are alone and frightened. When we are lost, when sorrow overtakes us, when we just need assuring that he is there near us. When he hears our call, he knows at once that his beloved child needs him. 

Sometimes we forget that he is ready to comfort us, and we struggle with our own thoughts and sink further into our misery. When we remember he is our Father, who loves us a beautiful verse, which reminds us of this, comes into our mind. 

“The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love. He will rejoice over you with singing.” (Zephaniah 3: 17)

That verse makes me think of a father calming and tenderly singing over a small infant. 

There are many witnesses in the Bible who have called out to God and received his wonderful compassion, nothing is too simple or too tragic for him to pour out his love for his children. I always think of Jeremiah who had such a difficult life, standing up for God’s laws when he was mocked threatened with death and had no friends. But he never stopped telling the children of God that their only hope was to turn back to God and follow his laws. He knew who he could trust and who he could call out to.

“I called on your name, O Lord from the depths of the pit. You heard my plea. Do not close your ears to my cry for relief. You came near me when I called you and you said Do not fear.” (Lamentations 3: 55 – 57)

The Lord loves to hear our voices and is always ready at any time to answer our call, no waiting, but the incredible privilege of him answering every time.