What does it mean to cry out to the Lord?

A call to Him for help in the expectation of an answer (1 Kings 18; 2 Kings 5; Ps. 99: 6; Zech 13: 9).

A call to Him for help in the expectation of an answer (1 Kings 18; 2 Kings 5; Ps. 99:6; Zech 13:9).

There is all the difference in the world between a cry to God from the heart and a howl upon one's bed. The heart-cry sends a man to his knees in repentance toward God; the howl means but annoyance and distress, and rebellion against God.

"MY GROANING." (Ps. 38: 9.) — A groan to God, however deep the misery, however prostrate the spirit, however unconscious that we are heard, is always received above as the intercession of the Spirit, and answered according to the perfectness of God's purpose concerning us in Christ. Therefore the charge is, "They have not cried unto me with their heart, when they howled upon their beds." There is no consequence of sin which is beyond the reach of this groaning to God, nothing but the self‑will which will not groan to Him at all. This is a blessed thought! Such is our intercourse with God in joy and in sorrow; and I doubt not that in us poor blessed creatures, the truest the most blessed, (what will shine most when all things shine before God) are these groans to Him; they cannot, indeed, be in their fulness but where the knowledge of the glory of blessing is. I can see them precede the greatest works and words of Jesus. The sense of the wilderness, taken into his heart, made but the streams which could refresh it, flow forth in the sympathy of the Spirit which it called forth; and now the Spirit is IN US.

The religious sentiment of this Psalm is too plain for more remark - this is learnt by the Spirit only. We may notice the distinction between "crying with the voice," and "communing with one's own heart." The "crying with the voice" is the point of this Psalm; this brings in God instead of the workings of the anxieties of the measure of unbelief (in present circumstances) surrounded, I will add, not as the heart with unbelief of present circumstances, but with the deliverances which He hath wrought of old, strengthening present faith in Him who will bring about any circumstances. His way is always in the sanctuary, and, when our heart gets there, we understand it. When we bring in God by this cry, we find that it was not God but our own heart we were judging from - a foolish mistake - one that must be in unbelief. Hence the importance of a real, actual cry to God (in faith), or we are seeking the living among the dead; see Hosea 7:14. The cry of the Spirit in the Remnant of the Jews in their deep waters of trouble is too manifest for enlargement. The answer, on the principle we have mentioned, is obvious.

Psalm 28. Though Jehovah be the great subject as of all these, as regards the faithful there is a special point - his cry to Jehovah, and the supplication addressed to Him. The heart connects itself with Jehovah in crying to Him. The cry implies Jehovah's interest in us, and our having this for our starting-point; also our avowed dependence on Him. Hence, crying and prayer to the Lord are important, and an index to the state of soul. We may desire from Jehovah, have faith in His goodness in giving, but crying to Him identifies us avowedly with Him, even before others. Here the soul is spoken of as in extreme distress - the pit of sheol open before it. But the principle is ever true, even in interceding for others. Here faith is shewn in crying, when all seemed to man's eye hopeless. This connection with Jehovah is distinctly marked here, in its being made the ground for not being drawn away with the wicked in judgment.

Then after repentance, rather perhaps should we say, part of the repentance, came that wondrous turning from their evil way, coupled with the command "Let them cry mightily unto God." The cry of Sodom and Gomorrah, God said, was great (Gen. 18:20), but it was a cry that brought down judgment. How different was this mighty cry that went up from nearly a million hearts and tongues in Nineveh. What music must that cry have been in heaven! You will recall that it was by no means the first "cry" for help of which we read in this little book. We have already seen the heathen sailors cry to their false gods, and we have seen how useless was such a cry. We have seen them tell Jonah to call on his God, "if so be that God will think upon us, that we perish not." (Jonah 1:6) We have heard Jonah himself say, "I cried by reason of mine affliction unto Jehovah, and He heard me" (Jonah 2:2), and again, "My prayer came in unto Thee, into Thine holy temple." (Jonah 2:7)

The effect of the preaching was wonderful. We read, "So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them." It began with the king, who "arose from his throne" on hearing the word, "and he laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth, and sat in ashes." Moreover, in conjunction with his nobles, he issued a decree that neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, should taste anything; they were not to feed nor to drink water. In a word, an universal fast was proclaimed. All were to be covered with sackcloth, to cry mightily unto God, and to turn from the evil of their ways, in the hope that God would turn away from His fierce anger, that they might not perish. (vv. 5-9.) The reader will remark that they believed GOD. In Jonah 1 the sailors cried to Jehovah, because there it was the glory of Jehovah in His relation to the Jew that had been manifested in His judgments. Here it is the world in relation to God as such, and this will explain the difference; and being in this chapter on the ground of creatorial relationships, the cattle are also mentioned; for the whole creation (and this includes them) shall one day be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the liberty of the glory of the children of God. (Rom. 8.)

The effect of the preaching was wonderful. We read, "So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them." It began with the king, who "arose from his throne" on hearing the word, "and he laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth, and sat in ashes." Moreover, in conjunction with his nobles, he issued a decree that neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, should taste anything; they were not to feed nor to drink water. In a word, an universal fast was proclaimed. All were to be covered with sackcloth, to cry mightily unto God, and to turn from the evil of their ways, in the hope that God would turn away from His fierce anger, that they might not perish. (vv. 5-9.) The reader will remark that they believed GOD. In Jonah 1 the sailors cried to Jehovah, because there it was the glory of Jehovah in His relation to the Jew that had been manifested in His judgments. Here it is the world in relation to God as such, and this will explain the difference; and being in this chapter on the ground of creatorial relationships, the cattle are also mentioned; for the whole creation (and this includes them) shall one day be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the liberty of the glory of the children of God. (Rom. 8.)

Let us, then, now see in what way the Lord responds to the cry of the prophet. Jonah says, "I cried … and thou heardest my voice." Again, "When my soul fainted within me I remembered the Lord: and my prayer came in unto thee, into thine holy temple." (vv. 2, 7.) What could more strikingly illustrate the grace of God, or display the tenderness of His heart! The object of His dealings accomplished, He immediately answers the cry of His servant. In the folly of our unbelief how often are we tempted to think that He cannot forgive us after our sinful and rebellious wanderings. But His grace never fails; nay, He waits upon His people, His ear ever being open to their cry; for His attitude towards us does not depend upon what we are, but solely upon what He is in Himself. Satan would always fain deceive us now as he deceived Eve in the garden of Eden, and hence the importance of learning the character and the ways of God from His own word, and from the revelation He has made of Himself in Christ Jesus. Many examples of His readiness to hear His people's cry, spite of their conduct, might easily be collected from the Scripture. Psalm 107 is a collection of such; see also Hosea 4; and especially the Lord's message to Peter on the morning of His resurrection. (Mark 16:7.) These words of the prophet, "I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the Lord, and He heard me," should therefore sink deep into our hearts. They are a blessed encouragement to timid, and, beyond all, to backslidden souls, teaching as they do that God waits for nothing, if we have wandered, but our return to Him. We have a sheet anchor whose hold no storm can loosen when we have learnt the simple truth, that God never changes His attitude toward us, that His love is always the same — the same when we have fallen into sin as when we are walking in the enjoyment of the light of His countenance. And it is just because of His unchanging love that He deals with us in chastening and affliction. "Whom He loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth." It was, too, on this same principle that He acted with Jonah, and the issue was that the prophet could declare, "I went down to the bottoms of the mountains; the earth with her bars was about me for ever: yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption, O Lord my God." (v. 6.)