“Hear my cry, O God, listen to my prayer; from the end of the earth I call to You when my heart is faint. Lead me to the Rock that is higher than I…” – Psalm 61:1-2.

“…pour out your heart before Him…” – Psalm 62:8

WE CAN ALL relate to that moment when we cried out to God for reconciliation with Him, but like the warrior David, do we often cry out to Him? Our first instances encountering our conversion are but only the beginning of many heart cries.

Many know and can argue well the tenets of the Christian faith; they can eloquently quote and recite the doctrines of grace and all the promises that are meant for every believer, but few have encountered such truths. Few know what it is to be overwhelmed to such a point one can do nothing but cry out to God. This is where all inhibitions and conceit is burned away; this is where we are made real before God, ourselves and others.

Bible colleges will teach your head, will feed your intellect – and thank God for such establishments, but nothing, absolutely nothing will launch you out into the deeps but anguish of heart, where all you can do is fling your soul and entire being onto God. This is not pertaining to conversion; this is where life becomes such an agonising puzzle and challenges every promise you held dear to your heart; this is where all your pet creeds are tried for what they are worth. They are truths, but will you stand true to them in the thickest despair? More importantly, beyond that, will you remain loyal to God when all that seems to slay you and fatly contradict what you were taught of Him to be true?

Never think for one second that David did not intimately know God because of his frequent cries. Some tend to think that as Christians we are far more advanced spiritually, but why on earth then do we revert time and time again to the Psalms for consolation in our bleakest moments? Do we not feel that David’s encounters have spoken where we have been mute and without understanding in our extremities? David was more closely acquainted with God than most Bible students today. We gain knowledge in our classrooms but David learnt great truths in the wilderness; we read sound theology and are blessed with the privilege of hearing well respected teachers in air conditioned conventions while David learnt first hand in the blazing heat, in the midst of dangers and while seeking refuge from those who tenaciously pursued his death. David’s bitterest tears became his glittering jewels and what treasures they have served to greatly warm and encourage the heart of many a pilgrim.

Let a Christian get beside himself and find God in such a condition and you can count on such a person being of great benefit to the edifying of Christ’s body. We don’t find many real people today, but acquaint yourself with someone who’s been blasted by the hot desert winds and you’ll find a depth that paints life afresh in such a glorious way.

“When my heart is faint…” have we ever been there? Have we really felt depleted of courage and wisdom as to what the next move is and that to even contemplate what the next step might be overwhelms us? Thank God for such experiences; they are your deliverance from relying proudly on self; they are God’s mercy of leading you in His paths. Oswald Chambers said, “I am sorry for the Christian who has not something in his circumstances he wishes was not there.” Do you have some overwhelming heartache that you implore God to remove? What is your current thorn in the flesh – not some irritating inconvenience which is just part of life – but what makes you run to Him and only to Him to speak into your perplexing situation? Have you known what it is to empty out your entire heart before Him, knowing He is listening when nobody else is, can or even will? Has God hedged you in to where you only have Him to pour out your soul unto? If you are relying too much on others, don’t presume God will not seclude you until you learn to be with Him and confide in Him. More often than not, friendship with God arises from the ashes of loneliness and for many of us it can take years. This is in no way implicating that God becomes our ‘buddy’ or that we ‘hangout’ with Deity – nothing of the sort; to walk with God is to walk on holy ground and the ‘shoes’ we are to take off represents the world that gains influence through our perspectives, no matter how innocent they may seem, they have the tendency to produce an overfamiliarity with God.

Thank God for situations you cannot untangle and for circumstances that drive you to your wits end; you are embarking to know the God of the creeds you have held so highly; you are not leaning on doctrine and theology per se, because that will not sustain from crushing pressure, but you are discovering for yourself the God behind such creeds – “Beyond the sacred page I seek Thee, Lord.”

Each one of us has to learn the ‘Song in the night’; we may have heard and sung it a thousand times, but now we see the beauty of such promises; they have become real to us. It is not so much embracing sorrow as to embracing God in the sorrow. To embrace Him is to taste the security we have in Him, realising He is indeed our Refuge, our Strong Tower and our everlasting Rock, but first must come the cry and the yearning of our hearts and to feel our own weakness before we know His strength. David knew it well. May God give us such hearts after Himself.

Break Thou the bread of life, dear Lord, to me,
As Thou didst break the loaves beside the sea;
Beyond the sacred page I seek Thee, Lord;
My spirit pants for Thee, O living Word!

Bless Thou the truth, dear Lord, to me, to me,
As Thou didst bless the bread by Galilee;
Then shall all bondage cease, all fetters fall;
And I shall find my peace, my all in all.

Thou art the bread of life, O Lord, to me,
Thy holy Word the truth that saveth me;
Give me to eat and live with Thee above;
Teach me to love Thy truth, for Thou art love.

O send Thy Spirit, Lord, now unto me,
That He may touch my eyes, and make me see:
Show me the truth concealed within Thy Word,
And in Thy Book revealed I see the Lord.

(Hymn by Mary A. Lathbury; verses 3-4, Alexander Groves)