'This poor man cried out, and the LORD heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles.’
Psalm 34:6
J.C. Penney has died and gone to heaven, but hundreds of department stores across America still carry his name. When he started out in life he was interested in one thing only: making money. Working as a clerk for six dollars a week, his consuming ambition was to be worth a hundred thousand dollars. When he reached that goal he felt temporary satisfaction, but soon set his sights on being worth a million dollars. Then tragedy struck his life. His wife caught a cold that developed into pneumonia, of which she subsequently died. He recalled, ‘When she died my world crashed about me. To build businesses, to make a success in the eyes of men, to accumulate money – what was the purpose of it all? I felt mocked by life, even by God himself.’ Before long he was ruined financially and in deep depression. It was at that point he turned to God and experienced a miraculous conversion. He said: ‘When I was brought to humility and the knowledge of my dependence on God…it was like a light illuminating my being. I cannot otherwise describe it, than to say it changed me as a man.’ Have things fallen apart in your life today? Are you down, wondering if you’ll ever be able to get back up? Turn to God; He’s only a prayer away. And David the psalmist prayed that prayer: ‘This poor man cried out, and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles.’ And what God did for David, He will do for you today.
