Speaker: Dr. Harold J. Sala | Series: Guidelines For Living | And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. Hebrews 11:6

“I have been driven to my knees many times,” said the American president Abraham Lincoln, “by the realization that there was nowhere else to go.” It is quite amazing, however, how high you can reach by bowing your heart and knees before the Almighty God. Your desperation becomes God’s opportunity.

A helicopter was taking flak from the enemy, and the tail gunner used his radio to call for help, fearful that the chopper might be shot from the sky. “What’s your position?” asked the radio operator. Immediately he responded, “Kneeling!”

It is with that humility, submission and surrender that you can find His help, that you can personally discover what so many have found: there is a refuge, a place of quiet rest near to the heart of God.

Sometimes what you say isn’t nearly as important as the attitude of your heart. A little child’s tears do far more to move the heart of a father than his persuasive words of argument. When a Salvation Army worker despaired of succeeding in his assignment, he wrote a letter to William Booth, the founder of this rag-tag army that went into slums, into saloons, and into brothels, rescuing those in the clutches of sin and need. He wrote, “I’ve tried everything. What shall I try now?” Back came a two word reply: “Try tears!”

When someone walks in darkness, having sustained a blow of one kind or another, he or she feels as if the heaven is brass, as though God went back into His heaven and closed the door, as though He either doesn’t notice or doesn’t care.

Try kneeling before the King. Try tears, pouring out your heart, telling God why you feel disconnected, like an orphan. Then what? Is the heaven to open and lightening flash? Will you hear an audible voice from heaven? Not necessarily. But your Father who sees your distress will take note, and will honor the promises of His Word. No, I cannot prove that to your satisfaction, but you can. That’s where faith comes into the picture—faith that there is One who hears your cry in the dark, who sees your tears, who knows your distress.

The book of Hebrews says, “Anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him” (Hebrews 11:6). Yes, I know, you feel silly kneeling before someone you do not see, praying to someone who doesn’t always say, “Poor child; you have really been disadvantaged. Let me send an angel to knock off your enemies.” So how do you know? That’s where you need to fall back on the promises of God. Jesus said, “Whoever comes to me, I will in no wise cast out!” The way you know is by doing it.

If you’ve lost your way in the darkness of circumstances, come back. If you’ve never knelt before God and never poured out your heart, say what you feel and think. I know people who have prayed, “God, I don’t know if you are there, but if you are, I desperately need to hear from you. Please hear my cry and see my tears.” Instead of asking God to rain fire on your enemies, start with your own heart and ask His forgiveness for the part you played in disrupting a marriage, a friendship, a relationship.

Search your heart before Him and ask Him for a new heart, a conscience washed by His blood, and new light for the next step.

Then, you, too, with David, may say, “I sought the LORD, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears…. This poor man called, and the LORD heard him; he saved him out of all his troubles” (Psalm 37:6,8).

Resource reading: Psalm 34.