Go Ahead and Cry

Have you ever heard a baby cry?
It may have been twenty years ago, but you don’t forget a cry like that.
Babies will cry and scream and thrash around until the provider of nourishment makes an appearance.
When babies see their momma’s, they will shift the cry into high gear. It’s kind of a moaning cry. Sounds like two cars racing on a back highway in the boondocks of Southern Arkansas.
A baby will make as much noise as is needed to bring its mother to its rescue.

I cannot comfort a crying baby when it’s in this only-momma-can-help-me mood. I can do nothing else but hold a crying baby during this time. Despite my best attempts, I have no ability to console them. Googly-eyes, singing their favorite song, peek-a-boo…nothing works. They want momma.

A baby should know that its mother always cares for its needs.
They should know after several months of being cared for, that in just a couple of minutes, momma will be on her way. Once she finishes drying her hands on the dish towel.
She’s en route. You’re not being abandoned!

But they don’t seem to realize that. It seems they forget that momma was there the last time they needed her. An hour ago.

But maybe babies have it right. I mean, how else can we know they need something unless they cry out. The little tykes are usually hungry when this happens.
They can’t get up, walk to fridge, and pull out the whole chicken momma cooked earlier in the day.
They can only lie there, cry out and wait for the resolution to make its way to them.
Seven-month-olds can’t quite craft words into sentences yet. These little babies don’t have any control other than to make its needs known by crying out.

Even older children who have the ability to communicate with words will cry out.
They sometimes cry out loud for parental help when the situation calls for it.

Anyway…
How many times do we desperately need assistance with something beyond our control?
And how many times do we simply refuse to ask for help?

Help is such an inadequate word to describe what we need at times. It’s too generic. But this little four letter word means so much more.
“Help” could mean Advice. Comfort. Maybe we need Guidance. Support. Someone to listen to us.
A Collaborator. Someone to back us up or stick up for us. Cheer us up or stand by us.
Revive. Ease a burden. Alleviate. Heal. Intercede. Go to bat for. Cook a meal or two. This is what I mean by “help”.
We all need different things at different times. And we can all do different things at different times for someone else.

Our Heavenly Father knows what we need and when we need it. But if you’ve been waiting a long time for the resolution to make its way to where you are…it could be that He’s just waiting for you to cry out for help.
Maybe we should make as much noise and have as much fervency as a little child when we need Him to “help” us.
When we’re in desperate straits…we shouldn’t just sit there and expect God to come to us without an invitation.
God will surely come to us in our needs, but we have examples of different times when people needed help and they persisted in asking for His help. And He waited until they cried out.

I’m thinking of a particular verse of Scripture that chronicles a time when the disciples were sailing in stormy weather.
Jesus was walking on the water and meandered right by their boat. Scripture says that He would have passed by them. But they cried out. And because of their cry, instead of walking past them, He came into the boat with them.
I don’t know how many times I’ve needed help with something, finally asked for help, and the person with the ability to help said, “I was just waiting for you to ask.”
They didn’t want to barge in where they weren’t wanted.

Sometimes it takes tearing down our pride. Asking for help is just too hard for us to do.
We want to be able to do everything on our own. Sometimes we just need a little help.

It’s likely that God wants you to know  how much you need Him.
When we realize we need help and are willing to ask, that’s when we are willing to accept it.
Call out and cry out to Him! He’s ready and able.

to those who are at the breaking point,
– Caleb