Rescuer by Lisa Burkhardt Worley

Have you ever felt overwhelmed?

Yesterday was one of those days where everything seemed to cave in. There were school and ministry deadlines, relationship issues and financial concerns. In the past couple of weeks I also had a friend whose brother died, and another who suddenly lost their young daughter. It was a lot weighing me down and I just needed to talk it through with someone, so I texted a couple of friends to get a feel for their availability. They were either under the weather or seemed busy. I had already prayed, so feeling a bit alone, I prayed more fervently.

In the New Living Translation, Psalm 17:6–7 gives us a beautiful image of how God hears our prayers. David said, “I am praying to you because I know you will answer, O God. Bend down and listen as I pray.” What if when we pray, we imagine God bending down close to hear what we have to say? Picture a loving dad crouching to hear his young daughter whisper in his ear— because He cares.

When we are at our very lowest, the LORD hears our prayers and responds with a lifeline.

In Psalm 18, David was also feeling like he needed God’s divine hand to save him. He said, “The ropes of death entangled me; floods of destruction swept over me. The grave wrapped its ropes around me; death laid a trap in my path” (Psalm 18:4–5, NLT). If we are honest, sometimes we all feel this way. But then David said, “But in my distress I cried out to the LORD; yes, I prayed to my God for help. He heard me from his sanctuary; my cry to him reached his ears.” And later in the Psalm David shares his victory: “He reached down from heaven and rescued me; he drew me out of deep waters. He rescued me from my powerful enemies” (Psalm 18:16–17, NLT).

God is our rescuer.

In my case, he prompted a good friend to call me out of the blue because she wanted to talk. I listened to her, then she heard me out and I was able to share my struggles and pray with her for resolution to each of the issues I was dealing with.

Today is a new day and I am still afloat because I was rescued by a loving God who bent down to hear about what was troubling me. If you are going through something today, share it with the Father. I promise he will listen and will rescue you from the depths of despair.