DELIVERED BY GOD

“Call on me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.”

What a perfect set of instructions we are given in this verse: action, result, followup. Without a doubt, I have called on the Lord in times of trouble and have been delivered (even if the outcome was not the one I thought I wanted). But is God keeping track of whether I have appropriately glorified Him afterwards? Some deliverances are so big it seems there’s no possible way we can make it up to God. I can only hope that He knows my profound gratitude and humility in the face of His mercy and power.

This verse also reminds me of a scene in a movie called “Bruce Almighty” where the real God empowers Bruce to do His job for awhile. In one scene, Bruce tries to answer prayer requests with “paper files” and then “Post-it notes,” but is overwhelmed. So Bruce sets up a “prayer request” e-mail system. As soon as he replies “YES” to the first 1.5 million e-mails, another 3 million prayer requests pour in.

I remember in high school going with a “reborn Christian” friend (very in vogue in the mid-70s) and her parents to a church event. As we circled the lot, they asked Jesus out loud to help them find a parking space. I remember feeling that this was inappropriate and thinking that they should save their prayers for something important. Asking Jesus to find us a parking space seemed trivial and unworthy.

So I wonder, what qualifies as a “day of trouble,” worthy of a prayer request? Should we be cautious about using up our “prayer capital” with God? What if we ask too much of Him too often?

Bruce Almighty called the prayer senders “a bunch of whiners.” But does God see it this way? Based on our faith’s teaching of God’s infinite grace and compassion, the answer is clearly no. Still, though, I think I’ll play it safe, try to work out the small things on my own and save my pleas to the Lord for the big things. He’s never let me down so far.

— Elisabeth Russell

Courtesy of The Church of the Good Shepherd United Methodist