It is two in the morning and the rain has not stopped for six hours. The gully behind the house, usually a dry trickle, is roaring. Water has started to come under the back door. A father is stacking the children’s school bags on top of the wardrobe while his wife fills buckets and the eldest child holds a torch. His phone is in his hand. He is not sure who to ring first.
Most households have had a night like that, whether the trouble was water, fire, a break-in, a sudden illness or a phone call from abroad with bad news. In those moments we discover what we really lean on.
The cords of death
David wrote Psalm 18 after God rescued him from his enemies, including King Saul, who had hunted him for years. He does not describe the danger mildly. He speaks of the cords of death surrounding him and torrents of destruction making him afraid (Psalm 18:4). He felt as if he were being swept away.
Then he tells us what he did:
“In my distress I called upon the Lord, and cried out to my God; He heard my voice from His temple, and my cry came before Him, even to His ears.” (Psalm 18:6, NKJV)
And later, in one of the most vivid lines in the Psalms: “He sent from above, He took me; He drew me out of many waters” (Psalm 18:16, NKJV).
For David, calling on God was not a last resort after everything else had failed. It was the first reflex of a man who had learned, over years of danger, that “the Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer” (Psalm 18:2, NKJV).
God’s help often has a face
Calling on God does not mean refusing to call anyone else. That would be a strange kind of faith. When the water is coming under the door, the father should pray, and he should also ring the emergency services, wake the neighbour with the higher house and switch off the electricity at the main.
Very often, God’s answer to “help” arrives in work boots. It is the neighbour who comes over at dawn with a shovel. It is the firefighter, the ambulance crew, the police officer on a bad night. It is the electrician who picks up his phone on a Sunday, the church sister who arrives with a pot of soup and a bag of dry clothes, the relative abroad who sends money for a new mattress. David’s God “sent from above”; He still sends, and He frequently sends people.
So the faithful household does two things at once. It cries out to God, and it gratefully receives the help God provides through ordinary means. There is no contradiction. Refusing a helping hand because we are “waiting on the Lord” may actually be refusing the Lord’s answer.
Preparing to call
Part of leaning on God is being ready to receive help when it comes. A few simple habits make that easier:
- Keep emergency numbers written down somewhere visible, not only in a phone that may have a flat battery.
- Know the names and numbers of at least two neighbours, and let them have yours.
- Know where to switch off the water, gas and electricity, and teach older children too.
- Make a short family plan: where you would go, who you would call, what you would carry.
- Pray together as a household before trouble comes, so it is natural to pray together when it does.
Being the answer for someone else
If God answers prayers through people, then sometimes the person He is sending is you. The elderly couple two doors down may be the ones crying out tonight. The young mother across the road may have no one to ring. A household that has known rescue should be quick to rescue others, with a torch, a lift to the hospital or simply a knock on the door to ask, “Are you all right?”
After the water goes down
Psalm 18 is a song of thanks, written after the danger had passed. It is worth imitating. When the night is over and the mud is shovelled out, take time as a household to thank God, and to thank the people through whom He helped. Write the neighbour a note. Pray for the emergency workers by name if you know them. Gratitude remembered makes the next call easier.
For reflection
- When trouble comes to your house, what is your first reflex: panic, self-reliance, or calling on God?
- Who has God sent to help your household in the past, and have you thanked them?
A prayer
Lord, You are our rock, our fortress and our deliverer. When trouble reaches our door, teach us to call on You first and to receive the help You send without pride. Bless the neighbours, the emergency workers and all who come when others cry out. Make our household ready to help in turn. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
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