It’s not an overstatement to say that we live in a day and time like none other! Never has there been turmoil as we are witnessing, that is affecting every nation on planet earth. The “plan-demic” that some refer to as pandemic, has reached every corner of our universe bringing about universal downturn to man. Every nation has men, women, and now children rising up in force to speak out against tyrannical government leadership determined to take away the freedoms of the righteous as well as un-righteous people. One color skin turning against another, nationality, or even against someone who offers a difference of opinion from theirs. The untold number of babies being killed in the womb, or moments or hours later, following birth. Food shortages are beginning to show up as we are witnessing empty shelves in stores appearing more and more often. This to be seen more drastically as drivers are standing up before evil tyrants for their freedom as well as yours and mine. All the while they are not able to supply pallets of ‘goods’ to supermarkets. While we in the United States have been wonderfully blessed, and even spoiled in having so much…I strongly encourage you to have backups of groceries, water, and other supplies, because without God’s supernatural intervention soon, we’ve only seen the “beginning of sorrows” Jesus spoke of in Mt. 24.
Does God want to hear me when it comes to my prayers about these and other issues? One time, a long time ago, when I was about fifteen years old, I remember praying about having one or the other… a Harley or a Triumph…either would do…and I pleaded with God, over and over I prayed! I talked to him about what all I could do with a motorcycle! Where I could go! Who it would be that I could ride with! Surely God must see my anguish and need of one or other make and model for my life! Later I ended up not only getting my ‘wish’ (or prayer answered…lol) but in having 5 different brands of bikes in my garage. This ‘must’ be the result of praying and believing the words of Jesus in Mt. 7:7, won’t you agree? “Ask and it will be given to you, seek, and you will find, knock, and it will be opened to you.” That should bring about a whole lot of lol!
Allow me to help take our eyes away from these words, and to get on the road that asks the question again. Does God want hear me when it comes to prayer? God absolutely hears our prayers, and some He answers with a yes, other times with a no, and still at other times with a, not right now time. I’m so thankful that the Lord God hears every prayer, however, for now I want to approach the question from an entirely different perspective that you may have never considered.
David penned in Ps.55:17, “Evening and morning and at noon I will pray, and cry aloud, and He shall HEAR (caps and underline mine for emphasis) my voice.” Again in Ps. 64:1 he wrote, “HEAR my voice, O God, in my meditation,” and in Ps. 86:1, asking the Lord to“Bow down Your ear, O Lord, HEAR me, for I am poor and needy.” In words of the Bible, God responds, “CALL to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and might things, which you do not know” (Jer. 33:3). “For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and His ears OPEN to their prayers,” (I Pet. 3:12). With only these four verses alone we can confidently know God hears the prayers we make.
Now consider this about your voice. “My VOICE You shall hear in the morning, O Lord; in the morning I will direct it to You…” (Ps. 5:3). “In my distress I called upon the Lord…and He heard my VOICE… (Ps. 18:6). “I cried out to God with my VOICE—to God with my VOICE; and He gave ear to me” (Ps. 77:1). In Ps. 141:1 David wrote, “Lord, I cry out to You; make haste to me! Give ear to myVOICE when I cry out to You.” David penned in Ps. 116:1 that “I love the Lord, because He has HEARD my VOICE and my supplications.” (Again all caps and underlining, mine for emphasis).
God has great delight when we come to Him and ask for His help. He wants to give us the things we need. Sometimes the answers we get to prayers aren’t what we want or expect or they require longer than we like. But, none of that is an indicator of absence of answers. God HEARS every prayer no matter what method we choose to use: speaking, singing, or thinking. However, God gave us the VOICE we have, and like with Moses, He longs to hear us all use it. Moses gave as his excuse, “I stutter!” What’s your excuse? Others cannot “HEAR” what we are saying by way of our thinking, rather only by our “VOICE.” To give clear sound to a word means to speak or give VOICE to that word. Just as a mother and father desire to HEAR their baby first say ‘I love you’ by way of their VOICE, God also loves to HEAR your voice! Bottom line, He can “HEAR” the words you speak in your mind, however, He desires to HEAR your VOICE!
When Paul and Silas were in the Philippian jail, Acts 16:25 reminds us, “But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.” Understood! Now Let’s do it! “Evening and morning and at noon, I will pray, and cry aloud, and He shall hear my voice” (Ps. 55:17).
Blessings, Psalm 20:7 Dale & Jeannie