A Backdrop for this message: I am a lover of the Hebrew calendar. I find such revelation and comfort in the order, majesty and character of God that is revealed in the patterns and insights of the Hebrew calendar. Let me take a moment, at the start of this message, to bring to mind a few things about this year of 2022, or 5782 in the Hebrew calendar. This is a Jubilee year in which all debts are cancelled and we are set free once again from enslavement to the past. It is also a Smita year—a year of REST. God has promised that we will not have to work for this year’s harvest because He has already laid it up for us. As the media shouts about food shortages and lack, we will live in the covenant promises of our God and experience, once again, the wonder of God’s provisions for us.
So here we are in the decade of the “80’s” in God’s calendar- the decade of Pei, the mouth. And now we are going to zero in on the number 22. I really love 22! Let’s start with this fun fact: 5+7+8+2 equals 22. There are 22 letters in the Hebrew alphabet. There are 22 chapters in the book of Revelation. In the book of John, the word light is used 22 times and the 22nd time the word light is used in that book is Jesus declaring “I have come as a light into the world.” Let’s go deeper now and see how the Light of the World, our God, responds when we cry out to Him.
We are right now in a period of time in the Hebrew month of Tammuz known as the “Straits of Tammuz”. This is a time of great pressure and, for many, a time of intense struggle as we move towards release and freedom. Looking back into the Old Testament, in Exodus 32, we see this is the time when the Hebrew people lost patience waiting for Moses to return from speaking with God and they created a golden calf idol from the very gold God had released into their hands from their Egyptian masters! And thus began their wandering in the wilderness as God worked faith in Him into their character. This is the same timeframe when we read in Numbers 13:31 how God’s chosen people chose to believe the evil reports of ten spies over the urging of Joshua and Caleb to trust the promises of God. That cost one whole generation their entry into the promised land! Amazingly, in 1776, the Fourth of July fell on the first day of the “dire straits” and, once again, an intense struggle for freedom began to birth this nation. And that brings us to you and me, right now, as we enter into this time with the circumstances of our lives. Many of us are in a pressure-cooker time and are crying out to God for His help. Let’s see how God responds to our cries with, yet another “22” scripture!
2 Samuel 22: 7, 17-20 “In my distress I called to the Lord; I called out to my God. From His temple He heard my voice; my cry came to His ears…He reached down from on high and took hold of me; He drew me out of deep waters. He rescued me from my powerful enemy, from my foes, who were too strong for me. They confronted me in the day of my disaster, but the Lord was my support. He brought me out into a spacious place; He rescued me because He delighted in me.”
Look what this verse tells us. First and foremost, He Hears Our Cries! God never changes. As surely as He heard David’s cries, He hears our cries as well. His word promises us that He is “no respecter of persons.” What He has done for one, He will do for all. We need to settle this matter once and for all… God hears our cries. Say it out loud, God hears MY cries. Pause for a moment now and take this truth into your heart. The Creator of all, the sustainer of all life, God Almighty, is inclining His ear to YOU! He is listening to you. He would not bend down to hear your cry only to ignore you, would He? No, His word promises this “And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.” (1 John 5:15)
This doesn’t mean that we will always get specifically what we ask for because sometimes we “ask amiss.” But we can know this, when we cry out to God, He hears our heart crying out for His hand to grab us and to hold us tight and this He will always do. And He not only holds us Himself but He also sends reinforcements to lift us up above the fight and to carry us through the battle. Psalm 91:11-12 confirms this “For he will order his angels to protect you wherever you go. They will hold you up with their hands so you won’t even hurt your foot on a stone.”
I am not going to get everything I want to say on this topic here so I will continue in my message next month. We will see how God has equipped us to face enemies that are too strong for us and how we sometimes miss His “rescue mission” by looking in the wrong places or with natural eyes instead of spiritual eyes. But for now, let’s end with this.
What would change in the prayers you pray, and the cries you cry, if you knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that God Almighty- Perfect Love and Heavenly Father- is bending down to hear you? This might be your starting place. Cry out and ask to feel God’s presence and to experience His love…right now in this pressured time. Before everything else, cry out for intimacy with your Father and confidence in His promises for those who “pray believing.” Cry out for increased faith in His goodness and His miracle working power. Ask God to help you to cry out as a dearly loved child who knows her Father is listening and will come with the exact and perfect response to your cries.
He is listening…
