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.
Psalm 18:6 ESV
I started regular walking at the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020. The route we normally take is down the banks of the River Nith which runs through the town where we live and ends up in the Solway Firth. The walk is 3 miles and displays some of the most beautiful scenery and wildlife which we never noticed before to the same degree.
One of the attractions on the river (if you are fortunate enough to see it) is the tidal bore, this appears with the incoming tide. It is the most spectacular sight and the bore can raise the river level by a few meters as it comes in. Wildlife includes birds such as the cormorant, ducks of various species, herons that look a bit like a stork, secretly searching for their next meal, but the latest addition to the river are a family of otters and they are wonderful to watch.
A strange thing happened recently as we were walking. At one point of the river, we noticed a lovely spaniel dog sitting right at the water’s edge looking back towards his owner. The owner was shouting and whistling to his prize pooch to come, but the dog appeared to be unable to move. It was in fact stuck in the mud, for where he was the silt was deep and a human would have difficulty moving never mind a dog. The concern was that the incoming tide was soon to begin and the animal would need rescuing before this happened. Unknown to us, the pet’s owner had already called the Nith Rescue team to get help and they were on their way to release the stricken animal. On arrival two of the rescue team were able to use flat bottom sledges to edge their way to where the dog was and perform a successful rescue.
Calling the inshore rescue was the last resort for the owner but perhaps shouldn’t have been. Mind you we can be a bit reserved ourselves when it comes to seeking help. The Psalmist in our reading really hits the mark for when he was in deep distress and danger he had uniformly called upon the Lord, and had found him ready to help.
He called upon the Lord - in other words he prayed and asked God to help him in his trouble. He relied not on his own strength; he looked not for human aid; he looked to God alone. When we go the gospels, there is a good bit of advice there for us when we read Matthew 6:33 - Seek the Kingdom of God above all else. Or to quote the hymn writer:
O what peace we often forfeit
O what needles pain we bare
all because we do not carry
everything to God in prayer.
Tom Bonnar