Calling on God Surpasses Prayer In Times of Trauma
In times of trauma, calling on God surpasses prayer, becoming intense crying out to our Lord.
As Jesus sweat drops of blood, to die to His will.
Why Calling on God Surpasses Prayer
in time of trauma
Why would I say that calling on God surpasses prayer?
I think of prayer as communing with my Lord. Prayer is a quiet time.
We need daily devotions in order to feed our spirit. We read the Word and let it sink in. We meditate. We fill ourselves up with the Food for the soul…
…we need this every single day.
Communing with God began in the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve walked with God every day.
But there are times
when quiet prayer isn’t enough.
We hear people say, “then I cried out to the Lord!”
This bumps it up. It is not quiet prayer alone. This crying happens loud and in trouble.
It’s when your soul is rending with pain, and you lay face down on the floor, pound your fists on the hard surface, begging for relief, help, rescue. And you need it yesterday.
I did some Bible research, and found that the first mention of calling on God is in Genesis. It doesn’t say Adam and Eve called out to the Lord in the Garden. In fact, the first time the Bible uses those precise words is in Genesis 4. “And to Seth also a son was born, and he called his name Enosh. At that time men began to call upon the name of Jehovah.”
The meaning of the name Enosh gives us a clue. It means frail, mortal man. Because of mankind’s fall, man was frail and without God, the meaning of his existence. From the time of Enosh, men realized both the emptiness and vanity of life apart from God as well as their own fragility and mortality.
So they began to call upon the name of Jehovah, the Hebrew word for Lord. The meaning of the name Jehovah is I am that I am. He is the eternal God, the unique One who is. Everything and everyone else is not. Frail, mortal human beings realized they needed the eternal God.
bibleforamerica.org
Calling on God
isn’t a
Chicken Soup for the Soul
instant and final fix.
I’ve done many kinds of praying in my life.
Some prayers are outward silent but inward screaming.
- While driving down the road, a car swerves into my lane. My whole life spins before my eyes in a split second and I suspect soft music and pretty flowers coming soon. Even before I can form the word “Help!” the cry is answered and I’m left with a thankful soul and relief in my heart.
- Family situations pop up, especially with children on the spectrum. Autistic meltdowns are just as crushing for the victim as they are for the loved ones. So we all pray hard for good outcomes.
- Trauma is never easy to manage, whether it comes on unexpectedly, or if you expect fallout due to “situational control.” That’s a term for behavior modification, which is always a touchy subject in a family, and not only with someone on the spectrum.
So, calling on the Lord happens regularly at my house.
Sometimes I send a What’s App message all across my contact list asking them to pray.
Other times, I don’t even have time for that, and the Holy Spirit hears the cry before it comes. The other night we had a situation, and as it was going down, my phone pinged. It took a few minutes before I could check it, and when I did, tears trickled onto my collar.
My brother, 2000 miles away, for some unknown reason, decided to send me the song, “Why I Made Night.” I shot back a message saying, “This is a very dark night indeed. What prompted you to send this very message at this very time?” Of course he didn’t know. Or, rather, of course he did, because we both believe the Holy Spirit flies impulses faster than NASA can shoot rockets.
When I told my brother what was going down, he started a prayer chain, unknown to me until the next day.
I didn’t know all the cries going up to heaven that night, yet results came swiftly and with awesome success.
My child was thwarted in the attempt to escape herself, and came back home.
She doesn’t know the why of it all. In fact, she didn’t come home with tucked tail. The embers were still glowing.
But the help was there. On time. Our Lord is good till the end.
