It's hard to fall in bed and rest easily on a night when you feel besieged...surrounded by trouble or danger and cut off from solutions. Yesterday I heard a dramatic testimony. It is a story those of you who are besieged by trouble tonight may relate to.

The storyteller once worked as a police radio dispatcher. One night he heard an officer scream into his radio, "God, help me!" Pinned under his car in a remote area, he was in the process of being shot and the nearest help was 25 miles away. The officer's voice cracked and his emotions plunged as his murderers closed in. His life hung by a thread. In the Bible, King David described this kind of trap as being in a "besieged city." His only "thread" was God. Later, David wrote:

"Praise be to the LORD, for he showed his wonderful love to me when I was in a besieged city. In my alarm I said, 'I am cut off from your sight!' Yet you heard my cry for mercy when I called to you for help" (Psalm 31:21-22, NIV).

God heard the officer's cry for mercy that night and spared his life. Likewise, God hears your cries for help and mercy too. That single, invisible lifeline to Him may be all you have, but believe me, it's there. No matter what murderous foes are stalking you, or how cut off you feel tonight, God wants you to hold out your hand to Him so He can pull you through!

Heavenly Father, how often I have felt cut off from help - and even from You. Help me to cry aloud for mercy and grace in time of need. Don't let me remain isolated because of pride, unbelief or despair. Thank You for showing Yourself as my miracle-working God - the God who can rescue me from a besieged city when there is no other help in sight. In Jesus' Name, Amen.