“The poor man cried, and the LORD heard him and saved him from all his troubles.”

Psalm 34:6 [CSB]

A cry is not the most common way that prayer is thought to be described. Often we think of eloquence, power, boldness, and many other descriptors in the matters of prayer. We try to think of the right things to say, maybe even rehearsed lines, when ask for the ear of our Creator. The Bible though gives numerous examples of people crying out in prayer.

One example of this is the account of Peter walking on water recorded in Matthew 14:22-33. When Peter realizes that it is Jesus walking on water he asks to join him. Peter steps out of the boat and walks on the water. Incredible! However, Peter gets quickly becomes distracted. He felt the wind, he saw the waves, and he took his eyes off Jesus. Once he did that he began to sink and overcome with fear.

I think a lot of times we get super focused on Jesus, and we walk in our faith with confidence. We are laser focused on Jesus. Often this is after an inner spiritual revival, or when lift is easy. Then we get distracted, sin gets in the way, pain hits us, we takes our eyes off Christ, and we too begin to sink. We get so overwhelmed by what is around us, we forget who has gone before us. And here is the reality, Peter had Jesus physically before him, the Son of God and Creator of all things, as he was performing an impossible task. If he can fail, so will we. There is good news though.

The great part of this story is that while Peter is sinking, he cries out to Jesus for help. In Matthew 14:31 it says that after this cry that Jesus is immediately  there to help Peter. That word is used deliberately. Friends, when you are sinking, hurting, down, and distracted there is something we should do: cry out to Jesus. He will be there immediately for He is always with us.

Crying out carries the idea of a short and painful plea. It’s something you do when you have nowhere else to go. It’s an act of desperation. We feel alone and helpless. The reality is we are not. The Sovereign King bows his ear, he hears our cry, and he is with us immediately.

We can rest confident that God hears our prayers, and our God acts. Therefore, cry out to Him in prayer. As Charles Spurgeon once said, “God gives us prayer as a basket, and then he pours the blessings of his grace into it.”

SDG