Hear, O Lord

“Hear, O Lord, and be gracious to me; O Lord, be my helper.”  Psalm 30:10

Hear, O Lord – Those that do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.  So goes the great thought of Wellington.  And this is what David has in mind.  The phrase David uses is not just any ordinary call for help.  Go back to the beginning of the nation.  Read Deuteronomy 6:4.  The great shama.  “Hear, O Israel”, says Moses.  It is that call to obey, the call to carefully regard the commandments given by the living God.  Now David reaches back into his nation’s history and calls to God to regard what he says.  “Hear, O Lord”.  The same force.  The same insistence.  “God, You who called us to be Your people in the great shama, regard my shama and come to me now.”

Do you know how to call on the Lord?  Did you think that all you needed to do was throw up a plea to heaven?  Just cry out to the cosmic proprietor?  David knows something we must learn.  My cry to the Lord has ancient roots, based entirely on His call to me.  My plea is part of a two-way proclamation.  “God, respond to me now as I have responded to You.”

The great shama. “Hear, O Israel”, comes first.  The reason that David can call on God is because David has responded to God’s call to him.  God rescues those who live under His reign.  The King hears the king because the king serves the King.

There are days when I just want to cry out to God.  “Hear, O Lord, your servant.  Listen to me now.  I need you.”  David’s emotional plea is mine.  But I am reminded that the only reason I can call and expect an answer is that God called me first.  He came to me with the call to obedience.  And I heard Him.  I heard His terrifying voice tearing through the fabric of my life, exposing my sin and my desperate need.  I fell before Him, defenseless, guilty, undone.  And I heard His tender whisper, “My child, my son.  Come to me and I will give you peace.” 

Before you can call, you must listen.  Before you can plead, you must submit.  There is always a history to deal with before the next step is taken.

Hear, O Lord, Your servant, broken before you, in need.  Hear me, O Lord, because I heard You.