As far as I can see, there are two kinds of help. One is assistance. One is deliverance.
When you call out for help with a task that needs three hands, you already have two of the hands you need, so you’re asking for assistance.
But when you call out for help because you’re in a burning building and can’t get out, you’re crying for deliverance.
Hebrews 4:16 says that because of Jesus Christ we can come to the throne of grace with confidence so that we can receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
That “help” is the deliverance kind. It comes from two Greek words put together: cry and run.
I cry. He runs. Help. The cry-run. Deliverance.
There it is again, in Hebrews 13:6. “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?” He delivers me. I cry. He runs. When I truly remember that He is always faithful to run when I cry, I will not be afraid.
And so we listen and respond to the cries from Haiti, not only today, but throughout the coming days—cries for help, for deliverance. They cry. We run. But even more, God runs. God runs.
And so, because of Jesus, God listens and runs to my own cries to Him, not only today, but every day, even every moment. Am I simply asking for assistance, because I can almost do the job myself?
No, I’m asking for deliverance. Deliverance from sin. Deliverance to the power and glory of my Lord Jesus Christ, through whom I receive mercy and find grace.
I am desperately dependent on the one who will run when I cry.
~originally published January 2010
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