I Cry… And HE Hears

By F. D. Adkins

It was about nine-thirty and pretty dark outside when I pulled up the drive. We had just moved into our new home, and because of the random things we had not yet put away, we were still parking outside instead of in the garage. Let me share that I am not a night owl, so I was tired and ready to be home. But as I rounded the back of the car and stepped into the garage, something in my peripheral vision turned my head. I still have no idea how I saw it or why I would have even given it a second glance. In the slight glimmer of light coming from the security light on the side of the house, it appeared as nothing more than a tiny stick. But this tiny stick had a strange pattern, and I was no longer thinking about being tired. My senses were now on high alert. My heart had dropped to my stomach because I knew my daughter would be arriving home in a couple of minutes, and as a mother, I could not help but panic that I would lose sight of this thing. Throughout my life, I’ve been told that they are just as afraid of me as I am of them. Well, I have never bought that story, and I still do not. A snake is the one animal I fear, and add in some venom, and my fear escalates into sheer horror. Trying to keep my eyes locked on my enemy, I stepped to the door and tried to yell for my husband in a hushed voice. I know that sounds contradictory, but for some reason, I felt that if my voice was too loud, it would alarm the snake. Yet, my husband was all the way on the other side of the house, and I was sure there was no way he would hear me. I have one of those voices that does not carry (even if I scream). But that night, he heard me, and he was even shocked that somehow, I had managed to see this tiny copperhead’s tail sticking out from beneath my car in the dark.

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Have you ever been in an urgent situation where you yelled for someone and hoped they would hear you?

I have shared before how much  I love reading the Book of Psalms because of the human emotion that echoes from the words. This past week, my Bible verse to memorize was Psalm 18:6.

“In my distress, I called upon the Lord, and cried unto my God: He heard my voice out of His temple, and my cry came before Him, even into His ears.” Psalm 18:6 KJV

In this Psalm, David acknowledges how God saved him from his enemies. He was afraid, and he called out to God. He knows God heard his cry and came to his rescue.

As Christians, we are not excluded from distress. In fact, sometimes I feel as if the devil is working overtime, filling my mind with worry. Why? Because he knows worry is my weakness. He knows that is what will paralyze me. I have OCD, and the enemy plays on that as he did the other morning as I sat on the floor before my time of prayer. All the doubts and fears crept in, and I began questioning my path in writing. So, I cried out to God. I asked Him to please guide me… to clear the confusion… to lift my fears.

Later that morning, I began getting texts from my friend with quotes… inspirational quotes with precisely the message my heart was seeking. And then, in the afternoon, I had a conversation with my mom, and out of nowhere, she brought up a verse in a poem I had written a while back.

“With every step, His hand squeezes mine,

and He whispers, “Take one more….

This is the only way to the mountain

that is better than the one before.”

Friends, our enemy makes the trek through life as difficult as he can, but we must listen and cling to the words David wrote in Psalm 18. Our Father hears our cries. Trouble will come just as it did for David. And when it does, let us cry out to God just as David did. Let us take God’s hand and let Him lead… for on the other side of the valley may be the highest mountaintop yet.