In the world of advertising
especially the TV commercials every scriptwriter understands the power of two
words. “CALL NOW” To our great
annoyance all most all commercials carry phrases like; “Pick up your phone and
call now” “the first 100 callers will get a gift” “not available in stores only
order by phone” “Limited Offer,” “Call
Now, Toll Free, 24 hours a Day”[1]
All these action verbs and phrases create rather a false sense of urgency in
the mind of gullible customers and force them to act hastily.
We all may have been rushed into action one time or the other
and regretted later for foolish purchases or contacts we have gotten ourselves
into. There is another kind of call which requires quick and consistent action
on your part. I promise you that you will not regret it when you make that
call. Down through the centuries many have made that call and were blessed and
others have neglected it at their own peril. I am talking about “Calling on the
LORD.” Today we will look at when this calling on the Lord began; why we should
call on the LORD, and finally the blessings of calling on the LORD? Let’s look
at when this calling on the Lord began.
I. THE ORIGIN OF CALLING ON THE LORD:
The phrase calling on the Lord is not a new invention but
this kind of prayer has ancient roots way before Christ, David and Moses. The
first mention of it occurs in Gen 4:25-26, “Adam lay with his wife again, and
she gave birth to a son and named him Seth, saying, “God has granted me another
child in the place of Abel since Cain killed him. Seth also had a son, and he
named him Enosh. At that time men began to “call” on the name of the LORD.”
From this passage we learn that Cain killed Abel, and then he went away from
the LORD’s presence, built a city and led a total independent life style. Cain
and his seed became corrupt
God wanted to raise a righteous seed so He granted Eve Seth
and Seth had a son Enosh. Up until that point people had only known God as the
creator of the universe who created everything their eyes could see. Once Enosh
was born a group of people began to call on the name of the LORD. While Cain
and those who came after him turned away from God these people affirmed their dependence
on God by calling on Him. Jim Cymbala says, in his book “Fresh Wind, Fresh
Spirit, “In fact, God’s first people were not called “Jews” or “the Children of
Israel” or Hebrews.” In the very beginning their original name was, “those who
call on the name of the LORD.” Since that time there has always been a group of
people who have expressed their dependency on God by calling on the name of the
LORD. God is still looking for people who would call on Him but why should we
call on Him? Is it for His sake or for our benefit?
II. WHY SHOULD WE CALL ON THE LORD?
Firstly, we should call on the Lord because He is not just a
super power that created the whole universe as some would think, but he also cares,
hears and responds to our needs when we call on His name. The literal
translation of the Hebrew word “Qara” means, “To cry out, to call aloud, to roar, or to implore aid.” Charles
Spurgeon once remarked that “the best style of prayer is that which cannot be
called anything else but a cry.”[2]
Nothing else touches the heart of God and moves the hand of
God more then a loud cry that comes from the heart of his desperate children.
Here are a couple of biblical stories of how God was touched by the cry of His
children. Remember the story of Hagar the Egyptian maid of Sarah who had born
Abraham a son? She was sent out with her very young son into the desert, where
she wandered until all the drinking water was over. She put the boy under one
of the bushes and began to sob. In Gen 21: 17, we read, “God heard the boy
crying and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “God
has heard the boy crying.. then he opened her eyes and she saw a well of water.
At a later time in the history of Israel
We knew the rest of the story; God granted her request and
gave her a son who grew up to be one of the greatest prophets and leaders in
Israel, his name was Samuel which means, “heard of God” These two stories indicate that when your are
desperate, it is you who needs to cry out to God even when every one else
misunderstands you. When you do that from the sincerity of your heart God will
come to your rescue and grant you the desires of your heart.
My grand mother used to warn and encourage me to give my
heart to Jesus but just like any seventeen year old I neglected her advice and
lived a life of my own. She never gave up on me. She cried out to God for
nearly seven years, finally on the day of her funeral I surrendered my life to
the Lord. Let’s not give up on our sons, daughters, spouses and grand children.
There is hope. When we cry out to the Lord He is able to rescue them from the
hands of the evil one.
Secondly, we must call on the name of the LORD because he
invites us to call on Him. In Jer 33:2-3, “This is what the LORD says, he who
made the earth, the LORD who formed it and established it the LORD is his name:
Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you
do not know.” This scripture indicates that God doesn’t want to remain aloof,
and uninvolved from his people as a cosmic superpower, instead he wants to be deeply
and intimately involve in the lives of people. Therefore he invites us to call
on him; and when we call on him he will answer and reveal to us the secrets and
the art of living.
Here is another scriptural example. Psalm 50:15, “Call upon
me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you and you will honor me.” This scripture
invites us to call on the name of the Lord when we are in trouble. On the
contrary when we are in trouble our human tendency is to call on a close
friend, a therapist, a counselor, a pastor or if it is an emergency 911. There
is nothing wrong in seeking human intervention but may I urge you before you
make these human calls to lift up your voice and cry out God for his help?
Who knows God may send you his help much sooner than you
expect. No matter whatever your situation may be God is inviting you to call on
him. Almost sixteen years ago we had a situation with our eldest daughter. She
was then barely two days old, she stopped breathing, thankfully Wilma’s sister
noticed it; she shook the baby and she was alright. She had several more stop such breathing
episodes We took her to the doctor he
said these stop breathing episodes could lead to something called SIDS (Sudden
Infant Death Syndrome). He further said that they could do nothing except to
monitor the baby by placing an apnea monitor for at least the first six months.
We came back home discouraged but not without hope. After a
while we decided not to take the doctor’s advice instead cry out to God for his
help. We shared this urgency with several prayer warriors in India
III. BLESSINGS OF CALLING ON THE LORD
The founding fathers of America
The early
fathers new what it was to depend on God and didn’t hesitate to call on the
Lord! What a shift has taken place since then? Unlike the early fathers many
modern Americans would rather depend on their own intellect, ability, money, government
or social services. They fail to realize that it is God who made this country a
great nation in the first place. In Psalm 33:12, “Blessed is the nation whose
God is the LORD, the people he chose for his inheritance.”
I believe
this great nation of ours will continue to be blessed as we live in the
awareness that our whole sustenance, and survival depends on God but if we turn
our backs on Him and hate him in our hearts as it suggests in Psalm 81:15, we will incur God’s wrath upon ourselves. In
other words there are great blessings in store for all those who call upon His
name and there are curses in store for all those who turn away from Him and
neglect to call on Him.
This is
not only true for America
for all the nations in the world. Paul emphasized how important this calling on
God is for every living being in Romans 10:10-13. “For it is with your heart
that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess
and are saved. As the scripture says, “Any one who trusts in him will never be
put to shame. For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile the same Lord
is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him. For everyone who
calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
This
scripture seems to suggest that it is not just enough to believe in God in our
hearts but it is imperative that we cry out loud or proclaim or confess with
our mouths that He is God. This
scripture also suggests that this invitation is not limited only to the clergy,
evangelists, or certain prayer giants but it is for every one. In other words
if you want to see a miracle in your life it is required that you cry out to
God for help; and don’t wait for others to do it for you, He will hear your cry
as much as He hears any one who reaches out to him in humility. Psalm 145: 18,
“The LORD is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth. He
fulfills the desires of those who fear him; he hears their cry and saves them.”
My prayer
for each of us is that we humble ourselves, turn away from our wicked ways,
pray and seek God’s face with all sincerity then we will receive forgiveness
and healing. If one thing I wish for our Church more than any thing else it
would be that we become a people who would know how to call on our God. No
matter what you are going through today I encourage you to call on the name of
the Lord and he will deliver you from all your trouble.
I want to
close with these words of a song by Scott Wesley Brown “He will Carry You.” There
is no problem too big God cannot solve it. There is no mountain too tall he
cannot move it. There is no storm too dark God cannot calm it. There is no sorrow
too deep he cannot sooth it. If he carried the weight of the world up on his
shoulders I know my brother/ sister that he will carry you.” Amen
