Psalm 120:1: “In my distress I cried to the LORD, / And He heard me.”

May 5th, 2024 by Pastor Ed in devotional

We usually remember to cry out to God when the pressure is on, but we do realize that He is available all the time, right? Only a fool doesn’t seek God when he’s in trouble, but wisdom teaches us to remember to seek Him in the good times as well. Seeking God through daily quiet times has been the practice of believers down through the centuries, yielding a closer relationship with Him and, as pastor Alan Redpath used to say, a “victorious Christian living.” Why is it so helpful to seek God? In 2 Chronicles we find what happens in someone’s life when they don’t seek Him. King Rehoboam “did evil because he did not set his heart to seek the Lord” (12:14). Seeking the Lord, keeps us from doing evil.

There is a humorous story from 100 years ago that illustrates this truth. One evening in the early 1900s, a British pastor was visiting the United States and wanted to make a telephone call. He entered a phone booth in front of his hotel, but found it to be much different from those in his own country. It was beginning to get dark, and he was having difficulty finding the number in the directory. He noticed that there was a light in the ceiling, but he didn’t know how to turn it on. As he tried again to find the number in the fading twilight, a passerby noted his plight and said, “Sir, if you want to turn the light on, you have to shut the door.” To the pastor’s amazement and satisfaction, when he closed the door, the booth was filled with light. Amazingly, he only had to close the door and block off the busy noise of the world to be able to see and hear.

“LORD, remind us to rise up early and seek You, so we might see and hear what we need for the coming day.”