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One Call Does It All

Bruce Hill

"I will hear what God the Lord will speak: for he will speak peace unto his people, and to his saints: but let them not turn again to folly."--Psalm 85:8


What if you tried to talk to God and could not get through? What if there was a busy signal each time you called? Or worse, suppose you reach an automated angelic voice that instructs you to dial one for prayer requests, two for confessions and three to report an emergency? "To speak with the big man Himself please hold. Please note because of the high volume of calls that the big man receives your wait time may be several days. If you prefer, you can leave a message on his voice mail and He'll get back to you at his earliest convenience." Such a heavenly call would be disappointing at the least; especially since we expect VIP service as a child of God.  Gone are the days when a real person greets you on the other end of a phone call. It seems as though whenever we try to “reach out and touch someone,” we are greeted with a computerized voice.  I’m glad this isn’t true of our Father in heaven. He is always there. No voice-mail boxes, no “press 2 for more grace” and no “call waiting” interruptions. Thankfully, The Bible says Jeremiah 33:3, “Call to Me, and I will answer you”. He has not been replaced by, “All lines are now busy. Your call is important to Me. Please stay on the line.” Yet I wonder what kind of access He has to us? We expect direct access to God whenever we call day or night. Communication with God is a two-way street. He speaks to us through His Word when we come before Him in prayer. We feel his presence and hear His voice through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. He paid a great price to keep the mainline open so that we can talk to him and he can talk to us. As Christians, we are thankful to Christ for giving us access to God; now we can call Him up tell and tell Him what we want. Our text finds David showing believers how to call on God and to wait for an answer. In this psalm David uses the first seven verses as a tutorial based on his prior experience in talking to God. If we look closely, we see an outline take shape:

Thank God for past favors and blessings; that's the tone of verses 1-3. It's a way of saying that our present problems should never cause us to lose sight of all that God has done for us in the past. Then we are shown how to make our petition for our present situation. In this situation, David asked for the troubles of the people to be turned. Thus, in verse 4 we hear the petition to turn us or change our condition. He asked for relief. Then, in verses 5-6, we are shown David appealing for revival, not just relief but full restoration of the favor and grace once known.  That's one side of the conversation, our side. The text, beginning at verse eight now tells us what to do next, wait to hear God. We are reminded that if we wait to hear God, he will speak to our souls.  For generations saints have learned that there are advantages to calling on God. Those advantages include calling God, connecting us to His strength. Believers call on God to benefit from his strength. There are times when the strongest believers experience weakness; it is a part of our nature. The spirit is often willing but the flesh is weak. These are the times that we draw strength from God. The Bible says In Psalms 19:14, "Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength, and my redeemer." He acknowledged God as his strength. When our strength is rooted in our faith we are blessed and assisted in ways that could not happen otherwise. Step back to Psalms 84:5 says, "Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee; in whose heart are the ways of them." For that reason, we are encouraged to stay connected with God and to constantly look for opportunities to be in his presence. Psalms 105:4 encourages us to "Seek the Lord, and his strength: seek his face evermore." Connecting with Him not only brings us strength but it sustains through difficult times. Connecting with God gives us direction. One of the great advantages of connecting with God is that He is constantly with us, providing us with inspiration and direction. Because God lives in us, through the indwelling of His spirit, He directs and motivates us. The prophet Elijah heard God's direction in a still, small voice in the wilderness.  It only takes one call. Hezekiah called on Him while lying on his death bed and received an immediate answer of 15 more years of life. He will tell you that one call done it all. I don`t know about your experience, but I found out that prayer changes things! Prayer can take your weaknesses and turn them into strength!  The good thing about it is that one call does it all! Call on Him, trust in His words, and ask what you will in Jesus` name and God will hear you when you pray. One call does it all!

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