Call on the Lord

“Call on me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will glorify me.”

I noticed three things immediately about this particular verse. First, our duty is to call upon God, because the verse assures that we will face days of trouble. In the life of Christ followers, the days of trouble is inescapable, and we will face them because we have no control over our lives. Secondly, God is able to deliver us because He is in control. I find incredible comfort in knowing that God is in control, because I can ask Him to help in my days of trouble. Lastly, God is so confident in Himself that He enables us to glorify Him. Thus, my hope in Him will never be about defeat but of victorious anthem unto Him.

Do you feel defeated in your spiritual life? Are you lost in your days of trouble? Do you want to sing triumphant songs unto the Lord? We are told that King David was successful in his days and experienced the Lord’s deliverance through many of his troubles, simply because David obeyed God’s commands (2 Samuel 4:9; 1Kings 3:14). Seeking God for help in our days of trouble is not an option to consider but must be an act of our duty. We cannot take control over our lives, but one thing we can take control in our lives is to call on the name of the Lord.

Our duty as soldiers of Christ is to protect our family and Church by covering them in prayer. Precisely when we fail to pray, our enemy will attack because he knows that’s when we are the most vulnerable. Most men think that providing a life of comfort is our main duty and doesn’t even realize how spiritually dead they are.

Recently, I had failed to protect my family, because my prayer life was greatly suffering. When I was just a young lad in Korean, my dad would make us wake up 5 o’clock in the brutal winter mornings to attend the morning prayer services at Church. I remember getting a pair of thick winter socks as a reward for faithfully attending the morning prayers during the winter break.

At New Life Fellowship Church, I would wake up 5:30AM everyday and be at Church by 6AM to spend time in prayer. Also, on Monday mornings we would have staff accountability and eat breakfast together. Once I got to the missions field, however, I no longer had the morning structure and the accountability. My prayer life started to suffer, and Satan took that opportunity to launch an all-out spiritual war against my family. He was out to steal, kill, and destroy.

I felt the divesting blow, and there was a moment when I thought I would lose everything: my wife, my children, and my ministry. The spiritual warfare is not over yet, but God through Psalm 50:15 is giving me strength to fight against the evil darkness of this world. Last Sunday, Pastor Khempet gave an alter call for people who needed God’s special help to stand, and I stood up and cried. I wanted to call upon God, because my days of trouble had come.

New Life Fellowship Church members must not take for granted having a senior pastor like Pastor Eric Shin who prays for the Church every morning on his knees. You guys don’t know what you have. The second generation doesn’t seem to realize the importance of calling out to God. They seem to live in denial that they are okay when many of them are spiritually bankrupt.

What an irony to be successful in the world yet be bankrupt spiritually. New Life members, awaken your prayer life, because if you cease to pray, the enemy will attack and take everything from you.

In our days of trouble, something dies within us and emptiness becomes alive, making you feel numb. Here, our past wounds are reopened and the floods of pain drown us. Thus, we add to our numbness another scar, which is too burdensome to carry. We want everything to end and even give up on life. However, if we call on God, He will hear our prayers and deliver us from our trouble. When the Lord’s deliverance comes, something powerful will rise from within. The power of the Holy Spirit will fill us and empower us to glorify God.

I realized this week that prayer was the only solution to my days of trouble. Pastor Chai said, “When ministering to people, many of their problems can only be solved by prayer.” We want to be in control and think we are in control until the days of trouble come to us without a warning. We become so confused because we thought we were in control. Life becomes surreal and we can’t believe what is happening before our very eyes. Here, the only thing you can hold onto is God’s promise, “I will deliver you.”

We must understand that not all wounds will heal completely, but God will give us enough grace to persevere through them (2 Cor. 12:9). When Jesus was resurrected, he still had the nail marks on his hands and feet and a scar on his side. Jesus invited Thomas to touch His nail-scarred hands with his finger and to put his hand into His side (John 20:27). The scar was a reminder to us what Christ had done for us on the cross and in turn to ignite our hearts on fire to glorify the Lord.

We will have battle wounds and scars, and they may remain on our bodies forever. However, the scars we carry will always remind us how Christ has delivered us from our days of trouble, and our hearts will purely praise Him. Do you not realize that what Satan would use to attack us will be precisely what God would use to make us stronger than before the battle? Can we claim a victory without a battle?

Call on Him and let him deliver you from your days of trouble. Let us sing a sacred song of allegiance to the Lord!