If We Cry Out…

If We Cry Out… - Proverbs 2:3

Intro.: We have focused on the first “if” of Proverbs 2: Receiving, Treasuring, Inclining & Applying. Now we’re ready to move on to the second “if”. We’ll find that this 2nd level is more aggressive. 1st we were called to “silence”. Now, we’re commanded to “cry out” & “lift up our voices”. Our silence before God captures His attention & brings Him pleasure in response to obedience. “Crying out” stirs something up in the heart of God. It moves God to action on our behalf. 100’s of times throughout the Psalms, David cried out to God & called the people to do the same. READ: Psalm 18:6-7

I. Hunger

A. Spiritual hunger is the currency of heaven

1. Salvation is a completely free gift

2. It is based entirely on what Jesus did and it cannot be earned

B. Spiritual hunger is key to receiving deep things of the Kingdom

1. I am NOT saying that we can earn intimacy with God

2. But receiving deep knowledge requires a certain heart posture

3. Building a relationship requires both time and effort

a. It also requires both giving and receiving

NOTE: As in any relationship, a level of trustworthiness must be achieved before God will release to us the deep things of His heart. A desire for information won’t achieve this. We must long to know what moves the heart of God so that we might bring Him pleasure.

QUOTE: John G. Lake wrote, “God’s purposes come to pass when your heart and mine gets the real God cry, and the real God prayer comes into our spirit and the real God yearning gets in to our nature. Something is going to happen then… It becomes the supreme desire of your soul, the paramount issue – all the powers and energies of your spirit, of your souls and of your body are reaching out and crying to God for the answer. It is going to come, it is going to come, it is going to come.”

C. Have you ever seen hungry people or ever been hungry yourself

1. Real hunger turns people into savages

2. Hunger makes us unreasonable, dangerous and miserable…

3. Yet, hunger also makes us completely focused & determined

NOTE: Jesus said that people who are hungry should be envied, because their cry will be answered, their hunger will be satisfied.

II. God’s Response to Hunger

NOTE: The people in the following Bible references were desperate. They were starving for God. They did not have a plan “B” when they came to Jesus. They were truly hungry.

A. The Canaanite Woman – Matthew 15:22-28

1. A gentile women, desperate for her daughter’s healing

2. She repeatedly cries out to Jesus and His disciples

3. Three separate times she pressed Jesus for a miracle

4. Even when the door seemed shut, she kept knocking

5. Jesus tested & proved her genuine hunger

a. First, He ignored her

b. Then He told her He was sent to the Jews, not the Gentiles

c. Finally, He told her that it wasn’t good to take the portion that God had set aside for Israel and feed it to the dogs

d. Amazingly, she wasn’t offended, she even agreed w/Him

NOTE: Jesus wasn’t being mean, He was verifying her hunger. God does things for the hungry that He does not do for those who are not.

B. The Woman with the Flow of Blood – Mark 5:25-34

1. This woman spent all she had to no avail

2. How deep had her hunger become before she grabbed Jesus?

3. 1000’s were pressing Him, yet He asked, “Who touched Me?”

4. This story is a picture of the church today

5. 1000’s of people around Jesus, going to church, singing the

songs even reading the verses, but few ever really touching Him

NOTE: Jesus’ heart isn’t moved by our volume or our numbers. His heart is moved by out hunger for Him.

C. Blind Bartimaeus – Mark 10:46-52

1. B. was crying out when everyone was telling him to be quiet

2. Their resistance only caused him to cry out more desperately

3. Jesus stopped in his tracks when he heard B’s hunger

NOTE: Think about this: When Jesus said, “What do you want Me to do for you?” God became a beggar’s servant, saying, “Here’s a blank check. Fill it out and I’ll give you whatever you ask for!”

4. Again, like blind B, the church is blind, but doesn’t realize it

5. When we get desperate for sight, our sight will return

Concl.: We must lift up our voices in a deep, desperate cry that ascends before the Throne of God. In Psalm 130:1, the Psalmist said, “Out of the depths I have cried to You, O Lord: Lord, hear my voice!”