Sunday, May 10, 2015

SOAP 05/10/2015; Psalm 3:4

Today's reading: Psalm 3

S) "I was crying to the LORD with my voice, And He answered me from His holy mountain.
Selah."

Psalm 3:4 (NASB)

O) David had a big reason to be upset. When he wrote this psalm, he was fleeing from his son, Absalom, who had forcibly ascended the throne. Many of David's psalm followed a similar pattern. He lamented his troubles, praised the LORD, then confessed his faith that God would deliver him. In the verse above, when David was describing his woe, he used a very specific wording. He said he cried "with his voice." Throughout the psalms, crying out to God is a frequent occurrence, but it is not often specified that this is an audible cry. After all, our "heart's cry" is a very real thing, which our God can very much hear. But, in this psalm, David seems to place an emphasis on the vocalization of his sorrows. God may very well have heard him, and answered him just the same, had his cry been only within his heart. We don't know. What we do know, is that David was unashamed to cry, audibly cry to his God.

A) On the show, "America's Funniest Videos" I remember seeing a home movie of a toddler throwing a fit on camera. When the parent moved to another room (still filming) te toddler would stop crying, following the parent into the new room, and only resume his cry once he was on camera again. It was pretty funny. There is a sense I have, that audibly crying a prayer helps to prove my faith. Otherwise, I could reduce the prayer to an internal monologue of self-pity. Speaking my prayers aloud is a testament that I believe someone is listening. Not just anyone, but the One. The One who can hear my cry, and actually do something about it. The LORD is His name. He hears my heart's cry, but I hear my cry with my voice, and I remember that He's listening. The cry of my voice is about me hearing and remembering that He hears, as much as it is about Him hearing it in the first place. I remember who He is, what He does, for crying out loud.

P) Father, You know all things. You see clearly, the hearts of men. You know fully, the cry of my heart. But Lord, when I am pressed, when I am woeful and fearful and life is painful, I will cry to You with my voice. When I hear my own words, my own cry, I will remember that Yoh also hear me. I will remember the One who hears is the same One who saves. You are my God, the LORD is Your name, and You are faithful and mighty to save. Be glorified. In Jesus's name I pray. Amen.

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