Here, Hearing

 I love the Lord, because he has heard my voice and my pleas for mercy.  Because he inclined his ear to me, therefore I will call on him as long as I live. -- Psalm 116:1-2

It is understandable that one would love God for paying attention to his cries for help in time of need.  We call out in petition and supplication because the situation is beyond our ability, if it exceeds the power of the human mind and the human hand to remedy.  Notwithstanding that all are not always willing to admit it, there is much that is beyond us, questions we cannot answer, puzzles we cannot solve. 

Yet once we know the Lord hears us and cares to listen, once we truly grasp this ever-present reality, we may, with the psalmist, find, greater than relief, a positive joy almost compelling us to keep on calling to Him.  His presence draws forth from us deeper longings for communion and what Christianity weakly names fellowship. 

There is, for me, essentially one reason to go to church:  I am a better man in the presence of my sisters and brothers.  We may get labeled as hypocrites because of this.  That's not what it is.  I used to be able to lower my shields in church, to put aside, for a while, the visor and helm.  I don't go and fellowship in a local church much any more because I bear the scars of the wounds I received in the house of my friends.  These days, I am more circumspect and, sadly, a lot less trusting that just anyone with a hymn book in his or her hand on Sunday morning is my brother or my sister. 

There are still those with whom I share Christian camaraderie, who keep me from wandering over the edge -- including some of you reading this.  I appreciate every one.  The One, though, who knows me best and who is undeterred by any defense, shield or armor is the One who listens in the dark of night.  Almost breathless until I breathe out, the Lord hovers over me.  He waits to hear my soul's expression.

I have been very thirsty and, a few times, hungry, when nothing was there to satisfy me.  Other times I have started to drink cool, clear water only to realize that I had been unaware of or ignoring my thirst.  In fact, not too long ago, I noticed that thirst makes me irritable and edgy well before I am aware of the physical signs of the craving. 

In times of sickness or loss or tumult, we may know that our only hope is in the Lord.  But there are often those smaller annoyances and stresses and even, perhaps, failures that call forth our calling to His listening ear.