Some of you are old enough to remember when “party lines” were still used in phone service. When I was young my family’s phone service was on a party line. That meant that a number of households were connected on the same phone line. Each household on the party line was assigned a certain number of rings. Let us say, for example, that your household was assigned four rings. When the operator was calling your household she would cause the phone to ring four times. If the phone started ringing, but only rang three times then the call was meant for your neighbor who had been assigned three rings.
Anyone from any of the households on your party line could pick up the phone and listen in on the conversation, but common decency would dictate that one would not listen in on other conversations. There were abuses of this though, so since your neighbor could know all your business you were usually careful of what you said while on the phone.
Another problem with party lines is that when you went to make a phone call and picked up the phone someone may already be on the line and you would have to wait until they were finished to make your call.
In this day and age we no longer have party lines, but we do have call waiting, answering machines, voice mail among other conveniences. Yet these can also be hindrances. If you are talking with someone who has the call waiting feature on their service, your call is interrupted as they put you on hold and see who the other person is. When you are trying to reach someone who is not home or not able to answer the phone then you will reach their answering machine or voice mail. This can be very frustrating when you need to get a hold of them in a hurry.
With God there are NO party lines, no one already on the line making you wait, no one to listen in on your conversation, no call waiting, no answering machines or voice mail. This means that when you want to talk to Him, you can reach Him directly and immediately: any time, any day, and any hour. Are you going through a trial, struggling to make ends meet, or in one of life’s emergencies, call out to Him. Speak immediately and in person with the great I AM! The Creator of heaven and earth is listening!
