I shared this at Church In The Park a few weeks ago.
There is a parallel between a Bible verse on prayer and an experience with Jesus and His disciples applying the verse in real life, VERY REAL LIFE !
THE PRAYER
“Call upon Me in the day of trouble . . .”—that’s A.
There’s more to the verse, but I stop there because we should just stop there when we pray—in trouble, any trouble, none too big, none too small—and not add our suggestions how God should take care of the trouble, and not think of how we might take care of the trouble ourselves.
God knows our trouble, but He wants us to specifically call out what the trouble is, and repeat what He said, aloud, “Lord, I’m calling on You in this day of trouble.”
It’s a good time to say and do this, “Be still, and know that I Am God.”
That’s what it means to “Cast all your care on Him.”
Then, while you’re waiting on God, immediately pick up doing whatever task is clearly in front of you—carefree.
THE PRAYER
“Lord, save us; don’t you care that we’re going to drown.”—that’s A.
Jesus’ disciples were in trouble, serious trouble, and they called on Jesus.
They got that right—but first they tried their best to take care of the trouble themselves—they hesitated to call on Jesus for help, until they were at wits end.
Notice the second part of their calling on Jesus in their day of trouble—Jesus was sleeping in the boat, on a cushion, in the storm that threatened their lives, like He didn’t care.
Do we ever think Jesus is sleeping on the job, sleeping in our boat, like He doesn’t care?
THE ANSWER
“. . . I will deliver you . . .”—that’s B.
That’s God’s job, without any help from us, no matter how many people say God helps those who help themselves (not Biblical !).
Besides, if God takes care of the trouble, delivers us, He wants all the credit, not halfway.
How much do we need God—all the way, or halfway ?
We know what God can do—it’s amazing what He will do, if we stop . . .
THE ANSWER
“Then He arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, ‘Peace, be still!’ And the wind ceased and there was a great calm.”—that’s B.
God does His job.
Not our job—we can’t do it, even if we think we can, even if we try.
Some times, many times, God seems to take extra measures to make sure we can’t, and get us to understand that, sooner than later, before He delivers.
THE GLORY
“. . . and you will glorify Me.”—that’s C.
All glory to God, all the time, every time.
If we think we did half of the deliverance ourselves, we will give ourselves half of the credit, half of the glory.
“. . . don’t forget to thank Him for His answers.”
When God gets our attention, putting us in a situation where we have to call on Him, we must thank Him, glorify Him.
Important side note—when God gets our attention, He wants to know how long He will have our attention.
And He will send repeated circumstances to remind us when we forget to call on Him and glorify Him.
THE GLORY
“And they feared exceedingly, and said to one another, ‘Who can this be, that even the wind and the sea obey Him!’”—that’s C.
Giving God all the glory means standing in awe of what God can do, what He just did, for me—sometimes with fear and trembling.
God is “a friend that sticks closer than a brother”, and we “call on Him in the day of trouble”, AND He is to be feared because He is God.
“His ways are higher than our ways; His thoughts above our thoughts.”
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