Psalm 31:22
In my alarm I said, “I am cut off from your sight!” Yet you heard my cry for mercy when I called to you for help. NIV
Have you ever seen a kid who is lost somewhere? It could be at a grocery store, a Wal-Mart, the mall, the park, or anywhere. You can see the worry in their eyes, and you can almost hear the question before they squeak, “Where’s my mommy?” You can even feel the pain in their stomach as they wonder what to do. Maybe, just maybe, you’ve been in that same situation once.
As you might have guessed, that happened to me a couple times when I was little. I had a tendency to stop to look at something that was of interest to me, and I thought that anything that important to me was important to mom and dad, too. Unfortunately, I found out that was not usually the case.
Luckily, my mother realized that I needed to be watched closely . . . very closely. So, she didn’t really stray too far, but it was far enough that I couldn’t see her anymore. I was fine looking at that toy on the shelf until I turned around to find her missing. As a little kid, my world just fell apart as that shiver of worry worked its way through me.
My mother, the person who fixed my lunch and bandaged my many hurts, was missing. I didn’t know how I would ever find her. I would think, “Maybe I’ll be alone forever.”
Of course, that is when I would yell for her. I would cry out, “Mom!!” I would yell out “MOM” as if no one else in the store went by that name. Just think of how many “moms,” “mothers,” and “mommies” are walking around Wal-Mart on a given day. Each one of those mothers has their own group of children who use that name to mean “their mom,” and not yours. I mean, imagine every mother simply hearing a child say mom, mommy, or mother. But every time a child yells that name, the right person responds to their cry. They know their child’s voice, and they know who their child wants.
As you read this little message, it might not seem like such a big deal to you, but I can tell you from experience that it means a lot to each little kid who has ever been in that situation. The verse above is from one of David’s psalms, and it tells us a lot about what God is like when we go through these situations.
David is talking about one of these situations. Some circumstance is pressing in on him, and he can’t seem to find God in it. Maybe he’s writing this during one of the long nights he spent alone as a young man tending his sheep. Maybe this is about one of the many nights he spent with his army before a battle. Maybe it is after one of the times that he forgot about God and allowed himself to be carried away by sin. The Bible tells us about many of these things in David’s life.
Do you ever feel like David does in this verse? Where God is nowhere to be found? Do you feel like you’ve gone down the wrong path and become lost from God? Even though you can’t always see God in your life, He’s there. When you think He’s left you behind because of where you’ve been or what you’ve done, you’re wrong.
Like those mothers, He can recognize your voice. He doesn’t hear your cry and say, “Some kid’s crying in the next aisle.” You are not some random, unknown person to Him. This God has taken the time to count every hair on your head. So, your cry is the cry of HIS child, and you are precious and lovely to Him. He wants to pick you up and wipe all the tears from your eyes. He wants to comfort you. But most importantly, HE LOVES YOU. God, the One who made the universe and who holds it together, LOVES YOU.
Jason Nance
& The Leaders
@ The Place
Followers
