"Ready to Hear"
February 8, 2017
And call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me. - Psalm 50:15
Most parents, as soon as their little ones are able, begin to teach safety.
We rehearse them so they are able to give their name, their address, and their phone number. At almost the same time we tell them that if they need help, they should go to a policeman and if there is an emergency, they should call 911. We assure them that when they call 911, someone will always be there to offer them help.
Now in the vast, vast majority of situations the above information is true.
Still, as Crenshanda Williams shows, that statement is not always accurate. Let me amplify. In July 2014 Williams was hired by the Houston Emergency Center. All went well until her supervisors checked out the call log and saw she had an incredibly high number of "short calls," that is, phone calls that took less than 20 seconds to complete.
Indeed, between October 2015 and March 2016 there were thousands of calls that Williams had cut short. Most disturbing was the fact that one of those calls had been reporting a robbery and murder, while two of them involved speeding motorists.
The supervisors began to pay closer attention. They even heard her hang up on a police officer who was reporting a crime. As she did so, Williams said, "Ain't nobody got time for this."
Eventually, the police interviewed Williams about what she had been doing. Understandably, they wanted to know why. Her reply was incredibly simple and direct. She confessed she "did not want to talk to anyone at that time."
Williams has been charged with interference with an emergency telephone call and her bond was set at $1,000.
I'm sure you will agree with me in offering thanks to the Lord that there are not many such individuals on the other end of our 911 calls. When we have an emergency, we need someone who will be there, someone who will give us their attention, who will do his or her best to take care of our problem and help us find a positive resolution to whatever is wrong.
This takes me back to the verse at the top of our page where, because of His Son's sacrifice, our Heavenly Father says, "Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me." Note, He doesn't say I may deliver you, or I probably will deliver you, or I might possibly deliver you.
God's promise is unbreakable.
He will deliver those who, in faith, come to Him. In every situation and every circumstance He will hear us and answer our prayers in the best way possible. True, those answers may not always be the ones we had wanted, nor do they always come according to our timetable, but God's deliverance does come and when it does, in faith we pray, "Thy will be done" (see Matthew 9-15).
THE PRAYER: Dear Lord, we cannot explain why You would pay attention to us, but we give thanks that You are ready to hear us. May we be equally ready to praise Your Name. In Jesus' Name I pray it. Amen.
