Prayer

"...The snares of death confronted me. In my distress I called upon the Lord; to my God I cried for help. From his temple he heard my voice, and my cry to him reached his ears. Then the earth reeled and rocked; the foundations also of the mountains trembled and quaked, because he was angry."(Psalm 18:5-7, ESV, emphasis mine) 

San Andreas Fault

As Christians, I think we feel our prayers go like this, sometimes:
Us: "God, there's this problem, and I could really use some help."
God: "Oh, ok. I'll look into it."

Sometimes prayer feels like this:
Us: "God, there's this problem, and I could really use some help."
No answer.

But this is not what we see in Psalm 18. There are three points to look at in this passage, which I highlighted above.

First of all, David, the writer of the Psalm, is desperate. He was being pursued by King Saul who wanted to kill him, because David was to be the next king. When David writes, "The snares of death confronted me," it is no exaggeration. Sometimes, we can feel really desperate, too. Maybe someone we love is sick. Maybe we don't have a job. Maybe that college we wanted to go to was too expensive. Maybe our friend just died. It could be anything - big or small - that causes us grieve or pain or despair.

Secondly, David writes, "My cry to him reached his ears." Does it feel like there is no answer? God really does hear us when we pray, even if it feels like there is a delay in His answer. And His timing is always perfect.

Lastly, we are given an extremely vivid picture, "The earth rocked and reeled; the foundations also of the mountains trembled and quaked..." Try to picture that. Can you see the earthquake? Can you see giant mountains shaking? And do you know why? It was "because he was angry." God was angry! His response to David's prayer was anger?

He is angry when His children - those for whom Christ died - are feeling pain. He is angry at the enemy that causes this pain, whether that enemy be sin, Satan, or the consequences of a fallen world (such as death and disease). He did not answer with a shrug of the shoulders and half-hearted help. He answered  as a Father caring for his own. He answered as a warrior and declared war on the enemy.

You see, He loves you that much. And in the end, you can say with David, "For this I will praise you, O Lord, among the nations, and sing to your name. Great salvation he brings to his king, and shows steadfast love to his anointed...." (Psalm 18:49-50, ESV)