Crisis Line

by R. Darke, Victoria, B.C. | Category: Fingerpost | Sept 1974

That is what some people call it, and it does have its advantages. Men and women, young and old, are feeling very keenly the pressures of today's life. They find themselves hemmed in by all sorts of troubles, and difficulties, and complications; some of their own making, and some that are not. With it all there comes, invariably, a guilty conscience, remorse over a wasted life, regrets over a particular sin or incident. This brings them to breaking-point, and some drastic action is contemplated as a cry for help. They need and want someone to talk to; someone who understands humans and their problems; someone who will listen, and show empathy as well as sympathy. So crisis line becomes a natural resort, and waiting at the end of the telephone is some unknown person willing to help.

Christians are not exempt from this particular need in their natural and spiritual lives. We can be so influenced by our environment and circumstances, that the same feelings can be ours of being trapped, hemmed in, and seemingly unable to find a way out. This is when prayer is so important; and in extreme circumstances we should not hesitate to drop what we are doing, and fall on our knees before the Lord who is waiting to hear our cries. We need reassuring at times that God "is not far from any one of us" (Acts 17:27); that He is Someone we know; that His Son is by His side waiting to mediate on our behalf; and the Holy Spirit is within us helping our groanings and unuttered words (Rom. 8:26). How quickly, then, we should cry unto Him, not to delay a moment but to pour out our soul's anxiety and need to the One who "loves to answer prayer". This is our crisis line.

David, the man after God's heart, needed to do this so often in his life. "In my distress I called upon the LORD, and cried unto my God: He heard my voice ... And my cry ... came into His ears" (Psa. 18:6). David had suffered at the hands of his enemies, persecution, calumny, and hatred, and he felt himself cornered, hemmed in, in "a tight spot". These are some of the meanings of the word "distress". David's only resort was to the Lord. If no one else could help or understand, He could and would. "Answer me ... keep me ... hide me", was his urgent cry (Psa. 17:6,8), and what the Lord did for David He can do for us.

R. Darke, Victoria, B.C. | Sept 1974
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