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Crying
Out to God
Peter Lundell
I
recently stayed at the home of some of my church members.
Their
baby cried at 3:00 a.m. and again at 6:30 a.m.
Parents
of newborns may yearn for the time when their child sleeps through the night.
But, no longer being in such a position, I just listened.
The cry
sounded almost like a song calling out to parents, not terribly good listening,
but a song nonetheless.
I thought
of the babies I'd heard cry in the different places I have lived: Minnesota,
where I grew up in humid summers and frozen winters; Haiti, where children are
born in mud huts and wear no pants until they're potty trained; Japan, where
children are spoiled until the school whip comes down in a life of conformity
and regimentation.
In every
place the babies' cries were similar. Rich or poor, Eastern or Western, the
babies all called out the same way to their parents.
Each child
grows up speaking a different language and eating different food, going to
school or remaining illiterate, working in an office building or hacking plants
with a machete, living under a tile roof or straw thatch, riding a car, a
train, or a donkey.
That
person may connect with God, turn away, or never truly know him.
On the
day a person dies, he or she will cry out, and that cry may or may not be
verbalized.
The cry at death is like a child's call to the Heavenly Father, "Carry
me." "Save me."
Or that
cry may be an anxious call into an unknown void.
Our lives
appear so different as we live them. We pursue our distinctions, whether they
are achievement, wealth, even philanthropy.
Then at
the end of life, we become more similar again, the way we were as babies.
How we
cry out at the end of life will depend on how much we desired our Heavenly
Father all the years in between.
Blessed are those described by Psalm 84:2, "My soul
yearns, even faints, for the courts of the LORD; my heart and my flesh cry out
for the living God."
Connecting
with God is the one thing that matters. Beyond that I wonder if in God's eyes
the lives we live are not so different.
Perhaps
whether we live in wealth, in poverty, or in a totally different culture, our
earthly life is secondary.
Perhaps
to him our hardships and successes don't matter so much.
I suspect
that, like a parent, God longs to hear us call out to him long after we're
babies.
He
recognizes every voice and feels the beat of every heart. He longs to hear us
call and never stop until our dying day.
How is
your voice doing?
“One thing I ask of the LORD, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in
the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the
LORD and to seek him in his temple. For in the day of trouble he will keep me
safe in his dwelling; he will hide me in the shelter of his tabernacle and set
me high upon a rock. Then my head will be exalted above the enemies who
surround me; at his tabernacle will I sacrifice with shouts of joy; I will sing
and make music to the LORD.” Psalm 27:4-6, NIV
"Lord,
young or old, I am your child. I choose to cry out to you above all other hopes
or powers, to call in faith and expectation. May my call to you be like a song
in your ears ..."
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Peter Lundell
With a pastor’s heart, Peter Lundell connects
people and their life issues to a real God so they can live well in the face of
eternity. With a quarter century of missionary, pastoral, and teaching
experience, he brings new perspectives to interacting with God that most people
overlook. He holds an M.Div. and D.Miss. from Fuller Theological Seminary and
resides in Southern California. He authors books on Christian spirituality.
Visit him at www.PeterLundell.com.
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