“For He has not despised my cries of deep despair.  He’s my First Responder to my sufferings, and He didn’t look the other way when I was in pain.  You’re reason for my praise; it comes from you and goes to you.”  ~ Psalm 22:24 (Passion Translation)

 I love this scripture in Psalms 22:24 where it refers to God as our first responder. In the United States, the term “first responder” is defined as: “those individuals who in the early stages of an emergency (accident, natural disaster, terrorist attack, etc.), are responsible to provide assistance for the protection and preservation of life, property, and environment.”

What a beautiful picture of Jesus being, our first responder at the scene of suffering. He does not despise our cries or the cries of those we minister to. He does not look the other way when He sees pain and suffering. He responds.

The definition of respond is: “to say something in return ~ to react in response to a call for help.”  Jesus responds in the face of suffering. That is a beautiful, comforting, embracing truth. But let’s push it out a little further; we as His kids are invited to be His hands and feet on the earth, so we also are first responders.

 Recently while my kids and I were visiting a mini-mart, we heard a loud crash and turned around to see a two-car accident. I immediately told my kids to wait for me and started running to the intersection. In my brain, Jesus must be first on the scene and so that’s why I am there.  Thankfully no one was seriously injured, but I stayed with the driver (who seemed in shock) until the EMT’s had checked her out.

This past weekend, my kids saw a woman barefoot, a jug of water at her side and crying outside of a Walmart store. They pointed her out as we were driving by and so we stopped and I went to see what was going on. Finding that her basic needs were met, I found out that she had nowhere to go for the night and it was late. I ended up taking her home with us and to church the next day where she received prayer for some things happening in her life.

What really made me sad, was when she told me that people just passed by her bench with no response and some laughed at her that night. First Responder Jesus, according to Psalm 22, does not look the other way when He sees suffering. 

We, like Jesus, are first responders. It may be just a smile, a prayer, a cold drink, a rescue, a meal, holding a hand, a bed to sleep in, the salvation message, a truth told, a time of ministry, a heroic act of courage, etc. but we are the first responders to the suffering God puts in our path. He may ask us to respond in ways that are completely out of our comfort zone. He may ask us to do more or do less than what is in our hearts, but regardless, we respond.

We can always pray!  We can invite Jesus to provide the protection, healing, deliverance, and preservation needed in that exact situation that is presented to us and then ask Him if there is anything we are to do in response. For He is fully worthy of all of us, all the time, fully responding to Him.

“For He has not despised my cries of deep despair.  He’s my First Responder to my sufferings, and He didn’t look the other way when I was in pain.  You’re reason for my praise; it comes from you and goes to you.”  ~ Psalm 22:24 (Passion Translation)

Written By:  Nita Weldon

Published on 8/18/2017