In my distress I called upon the Lord; to my God I cried for help. From his temple he heard my voice, and my cry to him reached his ears. Then the earth reeled and rocked; the foundations also of the mountains trembled and quaked, because he was angry. ... He bowed the heavens and came down; thick darkness was under his feet ... He made darkness his covering, his canopy around him ... — Psalm 18:6-11
Like most everyone else, I have had a few close calls in life, a few times when only inches or milliseconds separated me from a sudden, messy death. Other times I may have missed a mortal blow and been completely unaware. The first time I recall hearing Tom T. Hall was on a record called "Salute to a Switchblade". The song tells the story of an American soldier in Germany who got into a little trouble over a fraulein. She was married to another American soldier, but the narrator, due to the absence of a ring on the lady's hand and the limitations of his proficiency in German, was unaware of this fact. The woman's husband produced a switchblade and pursued the narrator who deftly escaped. When he got back to his quarters, he was somewhat shocked to find that his coat had been "split right down the back" by his pursuer's slash.
On other occasions we may have time to pray and cry out because the distress we are in is obvious and more prolonged. But what is it we expect God to do for us? How is the Creator supposed to step into our situation and rectify it? A friend of mine was fond of quoting Luke 6:38, the last phrase of which says in the KJV, "...shall men give into your bosom." He emphasized that point because he said God is not a counterfeiter to rain down twenty dollar bills from heaven (yet another difference between God and the Federal Reserve). Our faith will cause God to move upon other people to "do the right thing" to help us out.
Grace is sometimes defined as the "unmerited favor of God". The grace of God can give us favor with other people to our benefit. When that has happened to me, as it has so often, I see it as my job to justify the provision of that grace, to repay those who have been kind to me. We cannot simply say, "The Lord has been good to me" and ignore the implied obligation. I have been forgiven; I must forgive. I have been given much; of me, much is required. For all those who seem to not understand how privilege works, you might want to re-read this paragraph.
But the thing that impresses me about the passage I quoted from Psalm 18 is the frightening implication of it. If God really does help us, if He does answer our prayers, then "...the earth reeled and rocked..." is a pretty good description of what has to be going on. We do not always see it because of the accompanying "thick darkness". But when God comes down, He must, of necessity, bow the heavens. Things are going to be moved around. Reality itself is being altered, not the ultimate and the unchangeable, but the derived reality where we live day to day. When God answers our prayers, reality is being reshaped to look more like heaven ("Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth...").
Our prayers are part of the real evolutionary process that is taking place. We, by our crying out to God, are moving the world more and more toward the kingdom. We are being transformed which in turn transforms all of creation. When we stir God up against injustice and unrighteousness, the foundations get shaken up. This is the power of prayer. This is the responsibility that we have been handed when we bind and loose. More than a few Christians need to think this through and sober up.
Those who choose not to believe can get away with it because the Lord mostly cloaks Himself. The unbelieving see only the moving, impenetrable darkness, only the catastrophic consequences. They fail to perceive the Mover.
Sometimes He escapes even the notice of His children.
