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Sermon Series on Prayer

God is a First-Responder

I didn’t cry much when I was young but when I did, someone was always there to care for me – grandmother, mother, aunt.  As I grew older, my need for someone to respond to my cries decreased, even as my times of crying were reduced.  I grew up with the philosophy of life that says, grown men don’t cry.  But I never completely stopped crying. I spent a lot of time bottling up my tears, believing that if there was “no crying in baseball “ (a line from one of my favorite movies), there ought not be crying anywhere else.  Then one day I cried and my faithful responders had all departed for heaven.  The occasion and details of my tears are unnecessary here, but the fact is, I cried, and no one responded. I began to ask myself, if a grown man cries and no one hears, is it still a valid cry?  When I wasn’t really looking for it, I found a comforting verse.  On an occasion, Isaiah assured the people that God, “will be very gracious to you at the sound of your cry; when He hears it, He will answer you” (Isaiah 30:19). Even if no one else hears and responds, God does. That’s all I really needed to know, and pass on to you.  Go ahead and cry when the occasion calls for tears.  God is a first-responder.

 

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