'LORD, SAVE ME!"

We have all been there at one time or another, haven't we? "Lord, save me!" A time in our lives where all answers to the problems of life are dead-end answers and there is nowhere left to turn. Trapped and without recourse. We have prayed for solutions, and the Lord is silent. "Where, O Lord, can I turn if not to You? Hear me, O Lord, and let my cry come unto You."

When Peter was out there sinking into the sea, he cried out: "Lord, save me!" And Jesus reached out His arm, and Peter was saved from drowning - instantly - from beneath those watery depths.

Sometimes we feel like we are drowning in a raging sea of difficulties, and it may not be in a churning, angry body of water. That sea for us may be the flood of water flowing from our eyes in times of deep trouble. "And why not NOW, O my God ... why not now, as with Peter, in the instant of my cry? Why not now?"

True, our help is NOT always in the instant of our cry; we may have to wait, as our anguish mounts. "Where are You, O God of my salvation?"

It is a most painful time for us. There is no getting around it.

The well-intentioned platitudes of loved ones, while appreciated, offer no real solutions. We do know they care. And we covet their prayers of faith. We hang on to those prayers knowing the heavens are bombarded by this crying out to The Lord on our behalf.

Our own cry, and the cry of others on our behalf, are rooted in faith that God will answer His children. The Lord DOES hear the cries of His children...even when our help does not come instantly. We have only to wait upon Him. His timing is best even though we may not understand why He is so long in responding. He is faithful to hear our drowning cries - and He says:

"He will call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with Him in trouble; I will rescue him and honor him" (Psalm 91:5).

Amen ~