22. An Emergency Call to Heaven

A Meditation of Psalm 107

Psalm 107 invites those who have been redeemed by Yahweh to give thanks. The psalmist reminds them that they were redeemed by Yahweh, and were gathered from all the four directions and from all kinds of troubles, and therefore, they need to thank Yahweh.

When we travel along the path of life, we meet with unexpected troubles. With all the resources God has given us, we try our best to overcome the troubles in order to continue our journey. Most of the times we manage to overcome the troubles with the available resources. But there are times in everyone’s life when we face with insurmountable problems that even if we expend all the available resources, we can’t find a solution, and the troubles hunt us. It might be a situation in which we might lose our health, or lose our means of living, or even our life. When a life-threatening catastrophe strikes us, none of the available resources will be enough to face its challenge. Here in this psalm, we see people in four such situations:

lost in an uninhabited desert (4-9),
chained in prison (10-16),
in the grips of a mortal illness (17-22), and
caught in the middle of the angry sea (23-32).

It is very unlikely for people to come out of such situations alive.  

When people approach the gates of death (18), and find themselves at their wit’s end (27), they will have nothing else to do but to cry for help to the almighty. It is often at the gates of death that we seek the life-giver.

God usually does not interfere in our lives unless and until we seek help because of the freedom God has given us to make decisions for ourselves. We are God’s children, and even God respects our right to make decisions. Moreover, God expects us to make use of all the available resources before calling for help. But once we expend all the resources, and we seek help, the response comes immediately.  Regardless of the situation, it follows the same formula (6, 13, 19, 28). The emergency call to heaven gets a response right away. It has happened several times in my life, and I can assure that it has happened several times in the lives of many people who read this.

When making an emergency call to heaven, what are we going to say? We need to realize that we are communicating with our life-giver. The one who gave us life has the right to take it back at His will. It is an occasion for us to surrender our will fully and totally to Him. We need to say: “Not my will but thy will be done. If it pleases thee, take me back to thee, or if it pleases thee, let me stay here until it is time to come back to thee.” Let God decide what to do.

A lot of people desperately make an emergency call to heaven in times of need, but when the help comes, they do not even realize that the help was a response to their call. What a shame! Therefore, it is not enough to cry for help, but we need to wait for it, and when it arrives, we need to acknowledge it with gratitude. Regardless of the situation, this must take the same formula (8, 15, 21, 31).

It is a good idea to be in regular contact with our life-giver, not just in times of emergency. With a good relationship with Him, we will know exactly what to do when we are in an emergency. Also when the help comes we will know for sure where it comes from. 

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