PRAY; HE ANSWERS.

Psalms 4:1

Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness: thou hast enlarged me when I was in distress; have mercy upon me, and hear my prayer.

Hear me when I call may sound like a strange statement, but many of us expect to be heard when we don’t even call. Of course the Father does know what we need even before we ask Him, so this ‘calling” to God is more for our benefit and for that of those around us. For our benefit because it is a conscious confession of our need which provokes humility; and for that of others, because it is a witness and a demonstration of God’s ability to helps His children in their time of distress.

In ancient times, to make a request from God, people had to go to a Levite, a Nazarite, or a Rabbi. They needed to bring a sacrificial offering and make their request in fear and trembling, whose blood would approach God in our behalf. These things teach us the parameters of prayers even for today. Yes, things have not changed. We go to Yeshua, our Nazarite priest and Rabbi and make our request with fear and trembling, and He presents His Own shed blood to the Father as our sacrifice to pay the price of approaching the Father for us. What a priviledge that we can call upon Him at any time and invoke His sacrifice as leverage for our request. May we not use it unworthily.

Oh that we would call unto God as unto a loving Father. So many of us who call Him “Our Father” act like orphans. Let’s call upon Him today, in the righteousness and mercy of Yeshua, the Messiah, and know that He will “enlarge” us when we are in distress; that He will have mercy and hear our prayers. He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities (Psalms 103:10). His gentleness has made us great, and He deals with us according to the righteousness and the mercies found in the blood of Yeshua the Messiah shed for us.

HE IS AT THE HELM

Psalms 3:8

Salvation belongeth unto Adonai: thy blessing is upon thy people.

Selah.

After trying to convince her that worry doesn’t pay, a woman jokingly exclaimed, “Oh yes, worry does pay; the things I worry about usually don’t happen!”

Here is the conclusion of the whole matter (Ecclesiastes 1;13). The end of all cares is the knowledge and the assurance that when all is said and done, the Father is in full control of our lives. “His hand is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me,” the old song goes.

Many things happen to us that don’t appear to be within God’s perfect control. It is easy to feel that life is composed of random events coming at us without rhyme nor reason. Looking at it, one could easily conclude that we as individual are a ship left adrift given to its own care and caprices of the wind; that no one is at the helm. But a careful analysis of a life dedicated to faith, prayer and serving God easily proves the contrary. It testifies that whatever happens to us is within God’s perfect control. Therefore, we can always call upon Him with the total assurance of the promise that He . . . . is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.

1 Corinthians 10:13.

Oh, think of how excited we get when a child in dire need of our help cries out with desperate expectancy and faith that we will rescue him! Even so, the Master is excited when, going head front to an inevitable catastrophe, we let go of control through the sails and wheel, lift up our hands and scream, “Master please save us”. He is elated when in the midst of seeming impossibility, we hold Him to His Word and in a voice of excited anticipation, we proclaim with King David, Salvation belongeth to Adonai. Beloved, that could be the highest illustration of the word: ‘worship’.

ADONAI; OUR JUSTICE.

Psalms 3:7

Arise, O LORD; save me, O my God: for thou hast smitten all mine enemies upon the cheekbone; thou hast broken the teeth of the ungodly.

Absalom, David’s son had successfully led a coup against his father’s government. David could have led a civil war against his own son and win, but he followed the integrity that brought him the kingdom: in the same way that when David was anointed king by the prophet Samuel, he refused to kill king Saul who pursued him, and now David did not want to kill his own rebellious son who could be the possible next heir to the throne.

David also did not want to bring civil war and division in the people of Jerusalem, but the most beautiful part of his integrity was that he did not want to rely on the arm of his own strength for salvation. He wanted the Lord to be the one to vindicate him, to fulfill all justice and righteousness, so now he fled Jerusalem with Bath-Sheba his wife, and just a handful of loyal followers.

When we are pushed in a corner; when it seems that there is nothing we can do; that whatever way we turn, we loose, let us commit our cause onto the Lord. He brings us to these places for that very reason —for us to turn to Him.

God smites the enemies of our soul with a contemptuous slap that shames them without remedy; He breaks their devices of war! Let us remember His deeds of old, and be encouraged in the assurance that God never forgets us, and that in His perfect time, he always vindicates His people.
Psalms 27:12-14 Deliver me not over unto the will of mine enemies: for false witnesses are risen up against me, and such as breathe out cruelty. I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living. (14) Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD.

HE IS BIGGER THAN GOLIATH

Psalms 3:6

I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people, that have set themselves against me round about.

Does this statement by King David reflect willingly purposed ignorance of danger, boasting, or mere denial of reality based on therapeutic positive thinking? Is it the fruit of a strong faith in God based on the Word of truth? Boast ,or true faith? The answer to these questions lies in the end result. Faith without works is dead (James 2:26). Unless faith is in the end ‘mated’ with some sort of tangible manifestation, our declaration and profession of faith remains be a boast.

When Elishah’s servant asked the Shunamite about her son, Is it well with the child? She responded it is well. Was she in denial that her son had just died of a stroke? Or was she acting in full faith and supernatural assurance that God will give her her child back, which He did (2 Kings 4:26)!

. Was David acting in youthful immature ignorance of danger when he went to challenge the giant Goliath with nothing but a sling and 5 smooth stones? For the armies of Israel, Goliath was too big to fight; for young full of faith David, Goliath was too big to miss (1 Samuel 17:45)! It is all a question of perspective, of what we are focusing on.

The man who has his eyes firmly focused on God still feels fear, experiences worries, sees large armies of enemies, anticipates storms and famines . But he also sees Yeshua who calms the storm, comforts the heart, puts ther sea at rest, feeds the hungry, and turns to flight the armies of the aliens (Hebrews 11:34). When Peter stopped looking at the Master he started drowning (Matthew 14:30). When the Children of Israel looked at the giants, they were discouraged and refused to conquer the Land.

May we learn to look straight in the face of the Master instead of at the “giants” in our lives.

May He then fill our hearts with the same faith He gave King David in front of Goliath.

May we learn in these uncertain days to possess an unwavering assurance of faith and an unshakeable peace in the midst of the coming storm.

THE GREAT HERDSMAN

Psalms 3:5

I laid me down and slept; I awaked; for Adonai sustained me.


Two painters each painted a picture to illustrate his concept of peace. The first chose for his scene a still, lone lake among far-off mountains. The second painted on his canvas a thundering waterfall during a raging storm with a fragile birch tree bending over the foam. At the fork of a branch, wet with the cataract's spray, a small bird sat on its nest, cheerfully singing. That is real peace.

How sad must The Father be when after all He does for us, we still sit there and worry. On the opposite, how elated must He be when, in full trust and confidence, we cease from our own fretting and trust Him to do the work of caring for us. When faced with the fiercest of hurricanes, we can still trust Him, because we know that no matter what the situation looks like, He keeps us In the hollow of His hands.

It is in the midst of trouble that faith is tested. When we allow something to worry or fret us, we have put limitations to God's omnipotence in our hearts. How offensive would that be if anyone did that to us. The Hebrew word for ‘herdsman’ is ‘Do’eg’, meaning: ‘worry-er’. He is our great ’Herdsman’; may we let Him do the worry of caring for us.

On another level of etymology, the Hebraic biblical concept of ‘sleep’ can also refer to death. As we can trust Him with the worries of our lives, we can also trust Him that as we lay ourselves to ‘sleep’, He will also sustain and revive us. Though I walk through the shadow of death, I will fear no evil' the psalmist affirmed.

Resurrection is His promise to us.

CALL UNTO HIM

Psalms 3:4

I cried unto Adonai with my voice, and he heard me out of His Holy hill. Selah.

Our Master Yeshua told us that in order to see His Kingdom we needed to become as little children. What baby cries and does not expect to be heard? And yet in our ‘growing up’ our assurance of getting answered when we ‘cry’ seems to decrease. The most simple act practiced by babies requires us ‘adults’ to own the understanding of great educated theological principles. And as the world goes on, we seem to become more and more ignorant of the basic principles of faith.

God hasn't changed. Whereas in our short-sightedness we think Him lenient or even absent, He is near, and not willing that any should perish.

In his repentant hour, even the most wicked Torah-breaking sinner can call unto His Creator, just like the baby does. The Father will be right there, even waiting at the top of the road where He has for years hoped for his return. Here he is, teary-eyed with great anticipation of that blessed moment, with His great desire to answer our prayer. During our time of purging, we can call on Him, Yeshua is right there with us all the way through it, a High-Priest able to empathize with us, ready to pour the atonement blood shed for our redemption and reconciliation.

What father enjoys seeing His children suffer? Yes, the Father takes responsibility for sometimes allowing us to reap the results of our foolishness but when we go through the fire, He is with us, and even through the waters, they do not overflow us. Even in exile, He has been with His people ready to answer their call of repentance and return to Him.