CRY!

The other day, driving around here in Texas, I spotted this rather interesting bit of advice from “Larry.” We are, it sagely recommends, to call upon him. Particularly in situations that are less than salubrious or, in Larry’s own words, “when things get hairy.”

Only in Texas!

(Larry, it appears, is a poet of considerable ambition, though I wonder about his sense of rhyme. Of course, in Larry’s Southern drawl, his name probably does sound a lot like “hairy.”)

Anyhow, the whole point of Larry’s exercise, I take it, is to prompt us to call “All in One Electrical” in moments of circuitry crisis. When your hair stands on end, call Larry. Not wanting Larry to be deluged by hairy callers from all over, I smudged out the phone number that was helpfully displayed on the side of his van.

“When things get hairy ….”

Hairiness of life is not a rarity (I ought to know; after all, I deal in skin, hair, and nails!). Larry’s right; things do get hairy.

The Book of Psalms is replete with cries to the Lord for help in crisis. Things certainly were frequently hairy for the psalmist.

Hear, O LORD,
when I cry with my voice,
and be gracious to me and answer me.
Be gracious to me, O Lord,
for to You I cry all day long.
O LORD, the God of my salvation,
I have cried out by day
and in the night before You.
Psalm 27:7; 86:3; 88:1

In fact one psalm uses this hairy line as a refrain.

Then they cried out to the LORD
in their trouble;
He delivered them
out of their distresses.
Then they cried out to the LORD
in their trouble;
He saved them
out of their distresses.
Then they cried out to the LORD
in their trouble;
He saved them
out of their distresses.
Then they cried to the LORD
in their trouble,
And He brought them
out of their distresses.
Psalm 107:6, 13, 19, 28

Yup, life does get hairy, and often. But the thing about Psalms is that it ain’t addressed to no “Larry.” While that worthy gentleman may indeed be capable of extricating us from electrical exigencies, there is only One we must call upon when life gets hairy. The One who hears.

In my distress
I called upon the LORD,
and cried to my God for help;
He heard my voice
out of His temple,
and my cry for help before Him
came into His ears.
Psalm 18:6

The One who delivers.

In You our fathers trusted;
they trusted and You delivered them.
To You they cried out
and were delivered;
in You they trusted
and were not disappointed.
Psalm 22:4

The One worthy of our trust, because He alone can do all things.

I will cry to God Most High, to God
who accomplishes all things for me.
Psalm 57:2

And because we became the children of God when we placed our trust in Christ as Savior, we, too, can cry out.

Because you are children,
God has sent forth
the Spirit of His Son into our hearts,
crying, "Abba! Father!"
Galatians 4:6

Our God hears. Our God delivers. Our God is trustworthy. And one day, when all this is over, we’ll cry out—this time in joy—with the multitude of saved ones …

… and they cry out with a loud voice,
saying, "Salvation to our God
who sits on the throne,
and to the Lamb."
Revelation 7:10

When life gets hairy, we know whom to call!