When to Call Upon the Lord

“When to Call Upon the Lord”

“Offer unto God thanksgiving and pay thy vows unto the most High: And call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver thee and thou shalt glorify Me.”
Psalm 50:14-15
We shouldn’t wait until this time to do so, but neither should we hesitate to do so when it comes.
“Call upon Me in the day of trouble.”
Someone once cautioned the saints of God of only having “foxhole faith,” i.e., treating Him as a “God in a jam” and forgetting all about Him when things are going good. Likewise, we should also guard against never praying and just assuming He’ll always automatically “supply all of our needs according to His riches in Glory by Christ Jesus” because He promised to do so (Phil. 4:19).

The Heavenly Father loves it when we “offer unto Him thanksgiving and pay our vows unto the most High.” Truly in everything we should give thanks for this is His will for us in Christ Jesus. (I Thess. 5:18).

Yet, there are times when everything begins falling apart. It matters not if we’re regular in church, giving a tithe and offering, visiting the sick, helping the poor, etc. We enter into one of those “soggy seasons of life” (Eccl. 3:1-8) where “our tears have been our food day and night” (Ps. 42:3). Or, like Job, even though we’re spiritually mature, upright, fear God and avoid evil (Job 1:1), we still enter into a “dark night of the soul” and inwardly feel destroyed, “Man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward” (Job. 5:7).

It’s during these difficult days of “Fiery Trials” that we must call upon the Lord and know He will deliver us. And, in the process we must also “Glorify Him” in both words and deeds as others watch our suffering and struggles—knowing “all things work together for good to them who love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose” (Rom. 8:28).
When you feel like throwing up your hands, throw them up to God. God likes to see His people shut up to this—that there is no hope but in prayer. In prayer lies the Church’s power against the world.
But, the power for this comes from “unceasing prayer” (I Thess. 5:17) as we “humble ourselves in the sight of the Lord, submit ourselves to God by drawing near to Him and resist the devil in every way” (James 4:6-8).
None of us are immune to perplexity or finding ourselves at “Wit’s End Corner.” But, even there we know what to do: “Cry out to the Lord” (Ps. 107:28a) and know He’ll hear our cry and bring us out of our distresses as He makes the storms calm, so that the waves are still (Ps. 107:28b-29). Thank You, Lord, and thank you reader for your prayers. I need them.