He is never far

Psalm 22:19 KJV
But be not thou far from me, O LORD: O my strength, haste thee to help me.

How many of us have had to call out to the Lord in distress? I can’t even begin to count because I am sure it is well into the hundreds if not the thousands. Did he always answer me? Nope. Was it always like I thought it would be? Absolutely not, but I know that in my distress he will hear me and deliver me…some of the time. Sometimes, I put myself in situations and other times the Lord just needed me to sit there for a little while to reflect. He may not come when we want him to, but he’s always right on time, his time. We can’t see into the future. We don’t know what lies ahead of us, but we always get up in arms when God doesn’t do what we asked him for the way we asked him to do. He sees the beginning from the end. No, let me correct that. He knows the beginning to the end. He knows every situation, every obstacle, every setback we will encounter in life. He knows every lesson we need to learn to get stronger and endure to the end and sometimes they are hard lessons to learn. Sometimes we have to take the test multiple times before we get it right, but in the end we will be all the better for it.

Like David, we need to learn how to worship in distress as well. No better way to confuse the enemy and lift our spirits. The angels rejoice with us when we lift up our voices to the Father. Does it make him move any faster? Probably not, but who doesn’t feel good when you thank them and show appreciation? Let me tell you. I have been through a lot and I have seen a lot. Stuff that I was not supposed to see especially at the ages that I saw them. I have been so angry with God that I thought I would never forgive him, but the crazy thing is; even in my rebellion and my anger I never turned away from him. I knew better. Raise up a child in the way they should go they said and it is so true because I would find myself singing gospel songs out of the blue no matter how mad at God I was. Especially when I was having problems and that’s one of the ways I know he never left me. He was still speaking to me. I would hear things like don’t go that way. You should leave right now. Not them. Subtle hints and nudges that kept me safe and I thank God he loved me through all of my foolishness because he could have easily written me off, but he didn’t.

So, I never hesitate to call on him. Whether it’s out of frustration and anger, confusion or hurt. He is always the one I turn to first. He is my first response, not my last resort. Repent and choose God. Jesus is coming soon.