What do you do when you feel "wrapped", "terrified", "entangled"?

When you find yourself in times of distress and in need of help, where do you turn?

What do you do when you feel "wrapped", "terrified", "entangled", and "confronted"?

This week's devotions are written by my son, Bryant Forshee, Lead Student Pastor for Cross Church, Springdale, AR campus.

- Pastor Danny

"The ropes of death were wrapped around me; the torrents of destruction terrified me. The ropes of Sheol entangled me; the snares of death confronted me. I called to the Lord in my distress, and I cried to my God for help. From his temple he heard my voice, and my cry to him reached his ears."

(Psalm 18:4-6, CSB)

As you read verses 4-5, I bet you can recall a moment in your life where it was hard. Maybe it was a work situation, a family situation, a friend situation, a marriage situation, or any other situation that you may have found yourself in that was just plain awful. You felt a little like David when he wrote verses 4-5 above. It is no secret that this life is hard! This life is hard regardless of a personal relationship with Jesus, but when you do have a personal relationship with Jesus, you also have a personal enemy who wants to steal, kill, and destroy you, so that makes things extra hard. So, what do you do when life comes at you hard and things are difficult for you? Read verse 6 again.

Let's be followers of Jesus, who, when life throws us all the hard stuff and curveballs it can, we respond with, "I called to the Lord... and I cried to my God for help." What a beautiful example of what to do when life gets challenging, and David, I would argue, was facing an even more dire situation than most of us. When he writes verses 4-5, there isn't much allegory being written here; David is recalling how God took him "from the grasp of all his enemies and from the power of Saul." (That quote is from the introduction of Psalm 18 in the CSB Bible, giving context as to why Psalm 18 was written.) The way David combatted his enemies was to cry to the Lord!

When you find yourself in times of distress and in need of help, where do you turn? Do you go to people, social media, or family, or do you try your best to go to God? Today, if you are walking through hard times, call to the Lord in your distress, and cry to God for help. Then look at the promise of Scripture here in verse six: God hears your voice, and your cry reaches his ears.

You can know that the God of the universe who is all the things we discussed yesterday in verses 1-4, is also the God who hears your voice and listens to your cry! Take heart, follower of Jesus: your cries and voice are not falling on dead ears, but when you call out to God in the midst of all the hard stuff of life, He hears and listens!

Partner with us in spreading the Gospel and equipping God's people!

Will you help fuel our efforts to spread the Gospel
and equip and empower other Christians to do the same?

Count me in! ▶

Podcast of the Week

Conversing with Next-Gen Leaders

Pastor Danny welcomes to the show two fellow staff members of Great Hills Baptist Church in Austin, TX: Pastor Gary Hendrickson and Christina Cavazos. Gary is pastor of the young adult ministry, and Christina serves as both Gary’s admin and the church’s community outreach director.

Gary and Christina join Danny to discuss how they approach ministering to different generations, what is unique about the current generation of young people, and more... and it wouldn't be REvangelical without starting with testimonies and what brought them into full-time ministry!

Listen on your preferred platform: