When You Call On God

Text:

Psalms 118:5:

I called upon the LORD in distress: the LORD answered me, and set me in a large place.

 

Theme:

When You Call On God

 

Introduction:

• David and the Psalms:
  • The Psalms from which the text is taken is believed to be the prayer and praise book developed by David, the King of Israel anointed by God. These hymns are hallowed cries of God’s servant, David, as he struggled to serve God in spite of his shortcomings.
  • David’s life was a plethora of varied experiences: reared as a faithful shepherd of his father’s sheep, the slayer of the gargantuan Goliath, the leader of the victory over the Philistines, the one anointed by God as King of Israel, a “son” of God in his appointment to establish Jerusalem as the center of God’s Kingdom, his son appointed to build God’s House in Jerusalem, the Temple, while at the same time, David committed murder, and had an affair with another man’s wife.
  • David knew what it meant to be human, fallible, sinful, weak, stained, tainted, marred, guilty, and ashamed before God but what overshadowed all of the former adjectives was the fact that David was HUMBLE before God and saw God as his only source of strength and refuge.
    • As he writes in Psalms 51:17, “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.”
    • David knew who he was and whose he was. David knew that he was a sinner living only by God’s grace and that he was God’s child.  When all else fails, who else could he go to but his Creator…the one who created his life and his living.
• Our text realizes into two primary components of the scenario = The Call & The Response

 

Body:

The Call

“I called upon the LORD in distress:”

• The Call is made to the Lord
  • David uses the term “Lord” instead of “Father” to indicate that the relationship with God has been broken…the intimacy with God has been lost.
    • “Lord” is not comforting like a father, close like a brother, or intimate like a friend. A Lord is OVER YOU and not WITH YOU.
  • David knew that God was the only one whom he could call upon and get help/results.
    • As he affirms in Psalms 121:1-2:
      • “I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the LORD, which made heaven and earth.”
    • He also states in 2Samuel 22:7, “In my distress I called upon the LORD, and cried to my God: and he did hear my voice out of his temple, and my cry did enter into his ears.”
  • The Call is a responsibility on our part. Even though He knows all and can do all, we must out of respect and honor call upon Him in prayer and supplication.
    • Romans 10:13, “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
    • John 3:5-7, “Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God…. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.”
    • However, you have to call Him RIGHT!
      • Matthew 7:21, “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.”
      • Psalms 51:17, “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.”
      • Ephesians 6:18, “Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints”
• The Call is made “in distress”
  • What is the distress?
    • time of need
    • time of pain and suffering
    • time of depression
    • being off balance for any reason
  • This is the #1 time that brings different people together to find similarities
    • When times get bad enough, no matter how proud of hard-headed you are, you will make a Call for HELP!
  • The Call is not specific to a certain on called.
    • When times get bad enough, we tend to not care how we get the help or who answers à we just want HELP!
  • PROBLEM à We tend to ONLY call Him when we are in distress.

 

The Response

“the LORD answered me, and set me in a large place”

• God will answer prayer!
  • David cried out in Psalms 143:1, “Hear my prayer, O LORD, give ear to my supplications: in thy faithfulness answer me, and in thy righteousness.”
  • Assurance was given in 1John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
  • Then confirmation was given in Jeremiah 33:3, “Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.”
  • Certain songs have given witness to this fact:
    • The hymn says:

I found the answer, I learned to pray,

With God beside me I found the way.

The sun is shining for me each day,

I found the answer when I learned to pray

• The Lord spoke specifically to David…”The Lord answered ME!”
  • Amos 5:14 explains, “Seek good, and not evil, that ye may live: and so the LORD, the God of hosts, shall be with you, as ye have spoken.”
    • As the contemporary song says
      • “Speak to my heart. Give me Your Holy Word.  If I don’t hear from You, I won’t know what to do.  I won’t go alone…never go on my own.  But if your spirit guides, and then Your Word abides.  Speak to my heart!”
    • Then another states:
      • “What God has for me, it is for me!”
• Then God “set me in a large place”
  • As is explained in 2Samuel 22:20 and also Psalms 18:19, “He brought me forth also into a large place: he delivered me, because he delighted in me.”
    • The “large place” denotes where space and resources are plentiful.
      • As it says in Hosea 4:16, “For Israel slideth back as a backsliding heifer: now the LORD will feed them as a lamb in a large place.”
    • The “large place” is the place where God wants you to be.
      • Psalms 142:5 says, “I cried unto thee, O LORD: I said, Thou art my refuge and my portion in the land of the living.”
    • The “large place” is a place that allows you to be free.
      • John 8:36, “If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.”
    • The “large place” is a good place that is a gift from God to His creation.
      • John 14:2, “In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.”
    • Let God put you in a “Large Place”!
      • Where God wants to put you is bigger than wherever you are now.
      • What God has is bigger than whatever you have now.
        • Genesis 17:2, “And I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly.”
        • Ephesians 3:20, “Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,”

 

Conclusion:

• When You Call On God
  • You call on:
    • Our Father
    • Our Savior
    • Our comforter
    • Our provider
    • Our fortress
    • Our strength
    • Our friend
    • Our deliverer
    • Our EVERYTHING
• When You Call On God
  • He will answer!
    • Through His Word
    • Through His Creation
    • Through His Silence
  • God ALWAYS gives an answer
  • We have to be listening!!!