Day 137 – The Lord hears the cry of the afflicted and strengthens their heart as they call to Him.
Today’s Reading: Psalms 9 – 11
Psalm 10:17 “You, Lord, hear the desire of the afflicted;you encourage them, and you listen to their cry,”
I’ve never felt any greater strength than when I’ve been under the deepest affliction and called to the Lord. The quicker I call the quicker I am strengthened. As when rushing to the unknown, prayers of Jesus, a heart unaware of what to say, spoke louder from my heart’s desires than any words could ever speak, and not only did He raise my head with his strength, but he filled my heart with his peace.
The words said in prayer don’t always express the feelings we have deep in our heart because it can be so complex and quite overwhelming. Yet, Jesus leans down low and knows our desires. God loves to hear the desires of the afflicted because He knows that they are in their most dire need and can only look to Him. Some people wait until they’ve exhausted all other resources before going to Him, and yet He doesn’t turn from them, instead he allows their Waiting to seek Him as a period of time between their need and His answer.
Bonhoeffer was such a man that never left His faith and always sought the Lord in his affliction even to the end. He left this world comforted by the thought that life didn’t really begin until it ended here on earth. Bonhoeffer was quoted as saying, “Death is mild, death is sweet and gentle, it beckons to us with heavenly power, if only we realize that it is our gateway to our homeland, the tabernacle of joy, the everlasting kingdom of peace.” So, as his time came to an end and he climbed upon the gallows, he bowed before his King, and let his desires be spoken from his heart. A doctor watched as Dietrich went to his death and said, “In the almost fifty years that I worked as a doctor, I have hardly ever seen a man die so entirely submissive to the will of God.”
That my friends is the answer to the desire of one’s heart, the strengthening of the Lord.
Running 2 Fly 