The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous, and his ears toward their cry… When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears and delivers them out of all their troubles (Psalm 34:15, 17 ESV).

When you hear someone crying, it’s common to instantly wonder, “Are those tears of sadness, joy, anger, or laughter? Are they crying for some other reason?” A lot of times, we cry because we’re upset and angry, discouraged and infuriated by an unfortunate situation. In the midst of our anger and disappointment, we may forget that our Lord is always by our side. 

But when we do remember that he is there, do we cry out to Him for help, or do we cry out in despair, frustration and complaint? More often than not, it seems to be the latter. We need to change that, and make a shift towards asking for help instead.

This passage mentions twice how the Lord hears the cries of the righteous. Righteous means “doing what is right and virtuous; adhering to moral values.” Because Christ died for us and paid the penalty for our sins, we are declared righteous in the eyes of the Lord. So when the word “righteous'' is mentioned in this passage, it is referring to the believer. The believer will first be deemed righteous by the Lord, but then will act in a righteous manner by displaying values of Christ.

When we are in a place of trouble or despair in our lives, it is our naturally self-centered response to whine and complain about our situation. Instead, we need to ask for the Lord to help us. He will always have a solution to our problem, even if we don't see it immediately. Although it is not right to only complain to God, it is the first step to realizing that He has a plan for us. And it is the first step in the shift towards crying to the Lord for help. 

At some point in our lives, we need to shift our cry of complaint, to a cry for help. All of Psalm 34 prepares us for this by telling us that we can trust the Lord.  It tells us that, in the Lord, we can no longer be afraid, we have a refuge, and we will lack nothing. When we have trust in the Lord, we can then feel more comfortable to ask Him for help.

Next time you cry out to the Lord, consider whether your cries are cries of complaint or cries for help. If they are of complaint, see if you can shift them to cries for help. The Lord is near to those in need; he hears all of their prayers and pleas.

To read or re-read the summary/overview of this week’s passage, you can click here.