Good Morning Everyone,
Our theme for this month: “A life of service”
Our Bible verse for today: “Please God, rescue me! Come quickly Lord, and help me.” Psalm 70:1 (NLT)
Our thought for today: “You might be God’s answer to someone’s plea for help.”
I have a friend who is a paramedic. When someone in distress calls 911 for help, my friend is one of the first-responders who will be dispatched to the scene to render assistance. Interestingly, his wife is an emergency room nurse and so there are been many occasions over the years when he has rendered emergency assistance on the scene, transported the person to the ER, and then handed them off to his wife to continue providing emergency medical care. Together theirs is a life of service to people who are in physical distress and in need of emergency medical assistance.
Psalm 70 is sometimes referred to as a 911 prayer. King David was in dire straits. He needed help and he needed it fast. So he dialed-up a 911 distress call and pleaded for God to “send help!” The text doesn’t tell us exactly what David’s situation was or in what way God answered his urgent plea for help. There is some indication in verse two that somebody was trying to kill him, perhaps many enemies at the same time.
In what way did God send help? We don’t know. Maybe there was some miraculous intervention by an army of angels. Maybe God opened a crevice in the earth and swallowed up David’s enemies. Or maybe He dispatched a squad of heavily armed soldiers to assist David.
Sometimes God answers our 911 prayers with miraculous intervention, but more often than not He uses other Christians to bring the deliverance and assistance we need. Maybe it will be a friend who senses the urging of the Holy Spirit to give you a call at just the right time. Or maybe someone shows up at your door with a meal for your family the night before payday when there’s no food in the house. Or … there could be a thousand other examples.
The point is that when someone makes a 911 distress call to God, He usually responds by dispatching one of His first-responders, someone who will obey Him and who will be the source of assistance and aid the person needs.
In Isaiah chapter six the Prophet Isaiah had a vision of the throne room of heaven. Suddenly he heard God issue a call for a faithful servant who would go out into the world on His behalf. God phrased the call in the form of a question, “Who will go for us?” And Isaiah famously answered, “Here am I Lord, send me.”
Would that have been your response, “Here I am Lord, send me.”? Will that be your response the next time God receives a 911 prayer of distress and He needs someone to quickly respond? If you are committed to a life of service then God wants to use you as one of His first-responders.
God Bless,
Pastor Jim
Oak Hill Baptist Church 