Praise for Deliveranceಮಾದರಿ

Cry Out to God

As mentioned in the first day of these devotions, Psalm 18:1-6 reminds me to praise God no matter what the day holds. And today, I want to dive deeper into what it means to cry out to God.

Verse 6 says, “I called upon the LORD; … he heard my voice, and my cry to him reached his ears.”

I love that God hears our cries.

Psalm 40:1, NASB, says, “I waited patiently for the LORD; and He reached down to me and heard my cry.”

Scripture tells us that even when we don’t see God, He sees us. God is always near. We often distance ourselves through self-reliance, pride, or sin. But when we humble ourselves and cry out to God, it restores intimacy. We need to listen, recognize, and yield ourselves to His presence and voice in our lives.

We often do the first part—listen. We read Scripture and pray, asking God for help. But the second part is to recognize His voice and then surrender to the Lord. This is much more challenging to me.

I love this reminder in James 1:21-22, NASB, “Therefore, ridding yourselves of all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls. But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not just hearers who deceive themselves.”

We are robbing ourselves when we don’t yield to God’s Word and put into practice what the Lord says to us.

In John 1:48, ESV, Nathanael asked Jesus, “How do you know me?” Jesus responded, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” I love that Jesus saw Nathanael long before Nathanael saw or called out to Him. But in this encounter, Nathanael had a choice. He could either choose to respond with action and redirect his life to follow Jesus. Or he could continue to go about life on his own.

We all have that choice daily.

God is ready and always there when we cry out. But I challenge you to let His Word direct your days. As we complete this three-day devotional, I encourage you to dig deeper into Scripture. This is the most important thing. And if you would like to hear firsthand the story that inspired this devotion, you can listen to it on our podcast. I believe it will bless you.

Listen here to Saving Baby Deo on On the Ground with Samaritan's Purse.