Crying Out …

When I was a little girl of maybe 4 or 5, curiosity almost did me in. It happened on a lovely summer afternoon while camping in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Our campsite was chosen by my grandfather and it was gloriously pristine and beautifully breathtaking. Almost virtually isolated from the outside world of mankind, we camped on an island in the middle of a deep, icy mountain lake. To reach it, one had to not only hike in, but also take a 40 minute boat ride across and around the backside of the lake. So while our large German family of aunts, uncles, cousins, and my grandparents were industriously setting up camp, hiking and boating back and forth with fishing gear, tents and cooking utensils, I wandered off.
I am sure there was a perfectly good reason I disobeyed and set off by myself. No doubt it was in search of some exotic bloom, a monkey flower perhaps with its sticky, delicate orange blossom, or the brilliantly blue hue of a mountain iris… or the fiery red of Indian paint brush growing in the meadow or by the stream bed. Well as you can imagine, I wandered too far and as often happens to young children in the wilderness, got lost. I was gone the better part of the afternoon before it was noticed. They found me half way down a mountain cliff, sitting motionless, waiting patiently, safe and secure in the cleft of the rock. When asked why I didn’t cry out, I assured them I had, “I asked God to save me, Grandma!”. And He did! I had cried out to the Lord in Heaven, who always hears the prayers of his children. He is always listening for our desperate cry.

“Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD! O Lord, hear my voice! Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my pleas for mercy! … I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I hope; my soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen for the morning, more than watchmen for the morning. O Israel, hope in the LORD! For with the LORD there is steadfast love, and with him is plentiful redemption” Psalms 130: 1-2; 5-7).

If today you find yourself on the cliffs edge… looking down into the deep abyss, stop. Cry out to God, who always listens. Look up, cry out and rest. Rest. Simply rest. God is our hope, our strength, our refuge and in whom we trust. God has steadfast love, peace, grace and forgiveness for you, receive it. Drink deeply and be refreshed.