Crying out to God is something that every person will do at some point. If not here on earth, many times, then definitely on judgment day. Unfortunately, we usually do not seek God until we have run out of our own options. Our own abilities fail us and we find ourselves caught in a position that we can't escape from without divine intervention. Sometimes this is done through people who love us. Sometimes it comes from complete strangers or uncanny circumstances that can only be considered Heaven's grace & mercy. The point is that we should start with God's perspective to begin with.

This begins with humbling ourselves before the Lord. "Then if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land" Chronicles 7:13 NLT. We must remember that we are not self-provisioning. We have nothing without God. We can do nothing good without God. His place of presence and his level of existence is so far beyond our understanding that our dreams can not comprehend the completeness of his being. Yet even as the almighty God, he loves us independently and individually, so much that He sacrificed His own son for us. In that sacrifice, He bought us back. He paid the debt that we could never repay.

Now we can look to God as the Father who loves us. He loves us and cares for us so nothing that we need will be withheld from us. ⁹ “You parents—if your children ask for a loaf of bread, do you give them a stone instead? ¹⁰ Or if they ask for a fish, do you give them a snake? Of course not! ¹¹ So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask him. - Matthew 7:9-11 NLT. 

When we cry out to God, we must first "Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need." Matthew 7:33 NLT. Our steps can start with

• finding our humility by examining our current & past blessings and acknowledging how Holy God is.
• praying to God for forgiveness with the knowledge that it has already been provided through the sacrifice of the blood of Jesus Christ.
• seeking God's will & his desires by engulfing our life in the Word of God through reading, studying and living the truth through love to all.
• turning from our old dependency on ourselves which is wrapped in prideful, self-indulgent and unforgiving ways.

As we seek God's saving mercy, it should be as just a child with expectations of love and hope to be fulfilled.

~~
twh

January 16: Save Us!

Genesis 27, Matthew 20:17–21:22, Ecclesiastes 6:5–12

“Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest heaven!” (Matt 21:9). Idiomatically, this means: “Save [me], I pray, the Son of David. Blessed is the one who comes in the name of Yahweh! Save [me], I pray, by the highest!”

When the people shout these words about Jesus as He enters Jerusalem, they affirm His divinely appointed role and His ability to save them. And the original psalm that this phrase comes from is about their God, Yahweh. Perhaps the people understood Jesus as one with God (Psa 118:25–26).

As He enters Jerusalem, Jesus’ actions align with Zech 9:9, which foretells of a savior-king who will enter on a donkey (Matt 21:5).

For first-century Jews, everything lined up to affirm Jesus as God’s way of bringing salvation, and they responded to Him as such. This prompts several questions: how often do we see the alignment between what’s happening and God’s plan? How many parallels or opportunities do we miss? And how often do we forget to say “save me”?

Whenever possible, and just like the whole city of Jerusalem during Passover, we should be stirred to ask, “Who is this?” (Matt 5:10).

What do you currently need Jesus to save you from? In what areas of life could you be missing out on Jesus’ presence? How can you make Him part of those areas of your life again? - John D. Barry**

**Barry, J. D., & Kruyswijk, R. (2012). Connect the Testaments: A Daily Devotional. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.