Desires Fulfilled

What is God really like when somebody finally cries out to Him?

That is the question this psalm answers, so read it as a description of who God is. Listen to how it speaks of Him: "The LORD is gracious, and full of compassion; slow to anger, and of great mercy." "The LORD is good to all." "The LORD upholdeth all that fall, and raiseth up all those that be bowed down." Speaking to God, it says, "thou givest them their meat in due season," and "Thou openest thine hand, and satisfiest the desire of every living thing." "The LORD is righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works." "The LORD is nigh unto all them that call upon him." Then comes today's line: "He will fulfil the desire of them that fear him: he also will hear their cry, and will save them."

Notice that the psalm used the word "desire" three verses earlier, about every living thing. There it is about food, the daily needs of every creature, and not about wishes. Notice too the limit drawn here, which is real: the desire that is fulfilled belongs to "them that fear him." The verse just before says He is near "to all that call upon him in truth." Reverence changes what a person asks for. That is less a limit on the promise than a description of what happens to our wants when we draw close to God.

Then look at the second half of the verse. Nothing in it limits what the cry may be about: "he also will hear their cry." Our desires are shaped over many years, and our cry is heard tonight.

God hears in the daytime as well as in the night, though most of us find it harder to come to Him in the daytime. Think of the thing that would have you crying out at three in the morning if it went wrong. You can bring it to Him now, in the same ordinary voice you are using today. He hears you just as well in daylight. Nowhere in this psalm does God ask you to wait until it becomes an emergency.

Daily Manna runs on a two-year cycle. The year two reading for day 336 is The God of Hope (Romans 15:13).

All 365 readings in Daily Manna