You can tell an Oklahoma woman by the way she turns her head into the wind.  She wants to keep her hair from messing up.  Even our state song speaks of the Oklahoma wind.  "When the wind comes sweeping down the plain."  And "The waving wheat…"  It waves because of the wind.  The Oklahoma wind blows.  It howls.  It turns your garbage cans over.  And that is just our normal every day wind.

My youngest son lives in Moore.  The tornado last year was huge.  And very, very wide.  It moved toward Moore so slowly.  It simply chewed up everything in its path.  I was watching it on TV as it moved down on the school where my son and his wife taught.  You knew people were going to die.  All I could do was pray.

Psalms 86: 1-6  "Bend down and hear my prayer, O Lord, and answer me for I am deep in trouble .  Protect me (them) from death, for I try to follow all your laws.  Save me (them), for I am serving you and trusting you.  Be merciful, O Lord, for I am looking  up to you in constant hope.  Give me happiness, O Lord, for I worship only you.  O Lord, you are so good and kind, so ready to forgive, so full of mercy for all who ask for your aid.  Listen closely to my prayer, O God.  Hear my urgent cry.  I will call to you whenever trouble strikes, and you will help me."

We need to have the kind of relationship with our God so that when the wind blows, we can go to him.   And when trouble strikes we know that he will help us.  The conditions in the passage are:  1. I try to follow all your laws.  2.  I am serving and trusting you.  3.  I look up to you.  4.  I worship only you.

You can't say things like that in prayer if you wait until you have an emergency to call on God.  You have to know him pretty well to pray like that.  Get to know Him.  Read His Word.