Answer Me When I Call

"Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness! You have given me relief when I was in distress. Be gracious to me and hear my prayer!" - Psalm 4:1

One of the most troublesome places to be in life is when it seems like your prayers are going unanswered. You cry out for the Lord to answer and sometimes all you receive is silence.

I recently heard someone say that silence is God's first language. What I think they mean is that God doesn't always answer us immediately when we call. Sometimes his answer is silence. It's to wait. When they called for Jesus as Lazarus was dying, Jesus didn't immediately respond. Sometimes God doesn't answer us immediately. He waits for the right moment.

Here in Psalm 4, David is surrounded by his enemies (a continuation of Psalm 3) and he is crying out to the Lord for him to answer. David's primary objective seems to be to always seek the Father's face. He's always looking for God to answer him. In the midst of his trial, David knows that God is good and is going to answer him, he just needs to cry out.

In our own lives, when we encounter the silence of God, one of the primary ways to break that silence is to cry out to Him. If you feel like He is not answering you, cry out! Cry out loudly. There should be a passion inside of us that doesn't take silence for an answer. God is wanting us to seek him, to cry out to him, to passionately pursue his face, but too many times we are apathetic about it. We would rather lay around in anguish complaining about God than running to Him.

David recognizes that God has given him relief. In other words, David may not see it, but God is already answering his prayers. He has given him relief from his distress. He has calmed his spirit even though his enemies are all around him.

His last petition is a reminder that its through God's grace that we receive an answer in the first place. God answers us not because we pray correctly or have fasted in the right way, but because he is gracious. His grace is the key to answered prayers.

Prayer - Lord, thank you for answering our prayers when we call to you. Help us to put our apathy aside and seek your face. You promised that if we call to you, you would answer us. Help us to cry out and long for your presence. Amen.