Give Me a Call – October 6, 2020

Call on him while he is near.
Isaiah 55:6

Give Me a Call

“If you need anything, just give me a call.”

It’s nice to know—isn’t it?—that help is just a call away. When you need someone to let the dog out because you’re in the middle of a project, you can call the kids to do it. Or when you need someone to get that jar of pickles off the top shelf, you can call your long-armed husband. And while you hope you never have to do it, even as kids we’re taught to dial 9-1-1 in case of a fire or other serious emergency. It’s reassuring to know that help is just a call away.

Telephones have made it easier to call other people for help, but they haven’t improved the communication lines we have with our Savior-God. In our time of need, we do not need to raise our voice so that he can hear our cry for help. The psalmist reminds us that God is everywhere. “If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast” (Psalm 139:8-10). Jesus has made us a most certain promise, “Call on me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor me” (Psalm 50:15). It’s those kinds of assurances that prompted the prophet Isaiah to urge God’s people, “Call on him while he is near.”

Does Isaiah mean to suggest there are times when God is not nearby? Hardly. But what the prophet is implying is that too often we are ready to cut the lines of communication with the One who helps us best. Not only do we fail to call on him in our times of need; more tragically, we fail to listen confidently to his eternal promises and be assured of his saving presence and power, now and forever. “Never will I leave you,” Jesus says. “Never will I forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5).

Salvation is that near, that certain, that perfect! Jesus says, “Give me a call.”

Prayer:
Dear Jesus, through your Holy Spirit, give me strength to call on you and trust your promises now and forever. Amen.