"Hasten to help Me; save Me from the sword (death)You answered Me.” —Psalm 22:20,21
In this poem, David describes Jesus' crucifixion with starling precision, a thousand years before the Cross. But more startling is the cry, "Save me,” and this assurance: “You (God) answered me." Yet Jesus suffered and died on the cross.
The author of Hebrews repeats this odd juxtaposition: "(Jesus) in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death...was heard because of His godly fear" (Hebrews 5:7). Jesus was heard, yet he suffered and died on the cross.
Does God hear us when we call? Of course he does, but the help he supplies is not always deliverance from trouble.
God’s help may come in the form of grace to pass through the trial with calm repose, a rest that tranquilizers, relaxation techniques, positive thinking, Zen and other mystical forms of contemplation cannot duplicate. Jesus called it, “my peace,” an inexplicable peace that defies rational explanation (Philippians 4:7).
Lyricist Scott Krippayne put it this way…
Sometimes God calms the storm
With a whispered peace be still
He can settle any sea,
But it doesn't mean He will.
Sometimes He holds us close,
And lets the wind and waves go wild;
Sometimes He calms the storm,
And at other times His child.
David Roper
3/18/21
