Hear Me When I Call

Good morning and welcome to Our Daily Walk.

Audio version at http://tinyurl.com/3d3cmh

A current series of television commercials features situations where the cell phone connections are dropped during a conversation. In one commercial a wife is telling her husband the good news that they are pregnant, but then the connection is dropped. He is still on the phone and is overjoyed, but the wife is sitting in silence thinking that her husband is disappointed with the news. When communications are broken our joy can be turned to sorrow.

While we have always been taught that God is able to hear and answer our prayers, we sometimes need that confidence reinforced. In 1962 Tillit Teddlie wrote the song, “Hear Me When I Call,” which begs for God to listen to our needs. The first verse of this song goes as follows.

Hear me when I call, O God, my righteousness,

Unto Thee I come in weakness and distress;

Hold my trembling hand, lest helpless I should fall,

O hear me, Lord, hear me, O hear me when I call!

God is the source of our comfort as well as our confidence. When troubles surround us we should be looking to God for our relief from those troubles. But have we ever gone to God in prayer and wondered if He was really listening?

David experienced many occasions where he cried out to God. Through the Psalms we find several occasions where he lays his soul bear, searching for God, and then reaffirms his faith in God.

Notice, for example, Psalm 142.

I cry out to the LORD with my voice;

With my voice to the LORD I make my supplication.

I pour out my complaint before Him;

I declare before Him my trouble.

When my spirit was overwhelmed within me,

Then You knew my path.

In the way in which I walk

They have secretly set a snare for me.

Look on my right hand and see,

For there is no one who acknowledges me;

Refuge has failed me;

No one cares for my soul.

I cried out to You, O LORD:

I said, “You are my refuge,

My portion in the land of the living.

Attend to my cry,

For I am brought very low;

Deliver me from my persecutors,

For they are stronger than I.

Bring my soul out of prison,

That I may praise Your name;

The righteous shall surround me,

For You shall deal bountifully with me.”

David’s confidence in God is seen in his life. Though he may be weary and surrounded by enemies, he eventually comes to be reminded that God is there for him. He knew that God was always listening.

Tillit Teddlie, who wrote the aforementioned song, also wrote over 100 congregational songs. Among them were “Don’t Wait Too Long,” “Heaven Holds All To Me,” “In Heaven They’re Singing,” “O The Depths And The Riches,” “Oft We Come Together,” “Singing Redemption’s Song,” “The Master’s Touch,” “What Will Your Answer Be?” and “Worthy Art Thou.”

Teddlie lived a long and interesting life. He conducted his first singing school in 1903. It lasted for two weeks and consisted of six hour sessions each day. His first song, “I Have Waited Too Long To Prepare,” was written in 1906 and his last, “God Sent His Own Son,” was written in 1978. He lived to be 102 years old.

On Our Daily Walk today, may we learn to treasure each day and always trust that God is there to listen to our needs, thanksgiving and desires. May we pour out our heart and empty our cares with our Lord and know that He will hear us.

Our thought for the day: “You can expect God to intervene when you have taken the time to intercede.”

May God bless you on your daily walk.

© Our Daily Walk, Mike Baker, 2007. Permission is granted to copy these articles provided they are not sold and the author's name and copyright are included.