Psalms 37:4 “The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears them; he delivers them from all their troubles.”
Sometime last winter, sometime BC (before Covid), my husband and I made plans to go back to one of our favorite places for summer vacation. We secured a campsite at Blackwoods Campground in Acadia National Park for the third week in June. Then came Covid. And we joined the long list of people across the world facing unexpected cancellations.
As summer continued, and the virus seemed to lessen, we thought about reserving a cottage where we had once stayed outside of the Park. We called the owners who said they were open, but we needed to have negative Covid test results within 72 hours of entering Maine. So we arranged for the test with the assurance of having our results in 7-10 days. Well, ten days came and no results. We were told there was a sudden backlog. But we continued to prepare and left home fueled on the fumes of faith. It was day twelve.
We entered Maine with our test results still pending. When we got to the cottage, our host said we could stay, but had to agree to being quarantined until we received our notification of health. We wondered if we had traveled all that way only to turn around the next morning and head home. Everyone likes road trips, right? But just as we opened the door to our cottage, I got the text we were waiting for. We were negative!
My husband often responds, “better than I deserve” when someone asks how he is. It’s his way of thanking God for his grace. The door opening for Acadia felt like a bomb of grace landing on our laps. We knew we didn’t deserve it, yet, the Lord heard our prayers.
The Psalmist says the Lord hears the cries of the righteous and delivers them from their troubles. We can align ourselves with the righteous not because of anything we have done, but because of what the Lord has done in making us—and all who receive him— righteous.
As children of God we have no right to demand he give us anything. But he seems to like delivering us from our troubles. So don’t be afraid to cry out to the God who hears—even in quarantines.