God hears

‘In my distress I called to the Lord; I cried to my God for help.  From his temple he heard my voice; my cry came before him, into his ears.” Psalm 18.6

This verse is very re-assuring – but also might be a little confusing!  The reassuring bit is, ‘he heard my voice’.  What a comfort to know that every prayer we have ever prayed has been heard; not one went into God’s ‘junk mail’ box and on no occasion was he too busy listening to someone else!  He has heard our voice.

However, the confusion that might arise is this: if God has heard our voice, then why does he not do more in response to our prayers?  Why is it that so often our prayers seem to go unanswered?  It has been said that God answers every prayer: sometimes with ‘yes’, other times with ‘no’, and on occasions with ‘wait’.  Perhaps there is a fourth possible answer, which is ‘look around’.  Often our prayers open the door for God to act in ways that we had not foreseen or imagined, and sometimes it’s us who are changed by our own prayers.

Prayer is a gift from God.  It’s not currency for a divine slot machine where we always get exactly what we want, but it is an invitation for the living God to touch our lives in whatever way he knows is best.

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