But certainly God has heard me; He has attended to the voice of my prayer. Blessed be God, who has not turned away my prayer, nor His mercy from me! Psalm 66:19, 20, NKJV.
Dear God, How grateful I am that in spite of our unworthiness, You are willing to hear us when we call upon You. Please never take Your Holy Spirit from us, because we are nothing without You. In the name of Jesus Christ we humbly pray. Amen.
In our last devotional I shared some possible reasons why God might not answer our prayers. Today the psalmist declares with certainty that God has heard him. If you remember, two devotionals ago I made a disclaimer in regards to God’s dealings with His creatures. One of the main reasons I made that disclaimer was because I have found in my own experience that I unwittingly tend to believe that I can think the thoughts of God. Yet God makes it very clear ” ‘ “My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts” ‘ ” (Isaiah 55:8,9).
I am so filled with joy that my Heavenly Father’s ways and His thoughts are immeasurably higher and greater than mine! The psalmist obviously felt this way also, for in his declaration there is no, “maybe God has heard me,” or, “I hope God hears me,” No! It is affirmative in great measure: “certainly God has heard me[!]” I do not know about you, but there are times when that certainty is my safeguard. It is my life vest on the sea of trials and tribulations! It becomes my “shelter in the time of storm.”
The statement that I am about to make may sound strange to some of you. Others, because of their experience, may partially or fully understand it. Here it is: I believe that the times when our prayers are not answered the way we hoped they would be, are the times when it is most important to know that God did hear us!
Let me explain. Have there been times in your life when you said something to someone and they acted as if they did not hear you? He or she just went on doing what they were doing as if you were not even there. Nevertheless, what you said was so important to you that you needed their acknowledgement – so you added: “So and so, did you hear me?” If the person responds in the affirmative, “I heard you.” That is all you need. You were heard. This scene is familiar in parent and children settings. Just a word to the wise: Ignoring a child is a form of child abuse. Ignoring anyone, is a form of abuse. To acknowledge others even if you are not pleased with them, or not in agreement with what they say or do is an act of consideration and courtesy. It says to the other person, “You are worthy of my attention.”
Because of the mercy and compassion of our Heavenly Father, He finds the way to make us know that He heard us especially if the results were not what we expected. Oh the loving thoughtfulness and kindness of our Heavenly Parent!
I want to share with you a narrative from one of the most dramatic stories in the Bible: David’s sin against God in taking Uriah’s wife Bathsheba, and having her husband Uriah killed by the hand of the Ammonites. The plot is very thick. Nevertheless, look prayerfully at the way God dealt with it. I say prayerfully, because some have insinuated that God played favorites with David. Yet Sacred Scripture declares that, “God is no respecter of persons” (Acts 10:34). We tend to forget that while we see only the outward appearance God sees the heart!
The portion I have chosen comes after Nathan the prophet confronts David with his sin. “So David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” And Nathan said to David, “The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die. However, because by this deed you have given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme, the child also who is born to you shall surely die” (2 Samuel 12:13, 14. Emphasis provided.). From this point on, David can hope. God has heard him. He will hold on to this!
David’s sin was great in the sight of God and man. He had committed adultery and premeditated murder. The sure sentence was death! Yet, even before David could ask God for forgiveness, the Lord, who “delights in mercy” had already forgiven him. His life had been spared. But the child that was born as a result of his sin with Bathsheba would die. So David prayed to God to spare the child’s life. He makes no excuses for his sin, nor silences the verdict brought to him by the prophet. Instead he humbles himself before God. He lies in the dust and in repentance confesses his sin. He puts no food to his mouth for six days while the child’s life is in the balance. But on the seventh day the child dies.
David’s servants are afraid to tell him that the child has died. Surely he will do something rash! But quite to the contrary when he inquires about the child and is told that the child is dead, David calmly rises from the dust, takes a bath, changes his clothes, combs his hair, anoints himself as an indication that his days of mourning are over, and then goes into the house of God and worships. After offering his worship to God, he goes home and ends his fast by having a meal. His servants are baffled – What happened here? God did not answer his prayer? The child died! Where did this peaceful calm come from? It came from knowing that God had heard him. God had not ignored him. He simply did not answer his prayer the way he asked.
How do I know this? Listen to the dialogue between David and his servants: “Then his servants said to him, “What is this that you have done? You fasted and wept for the child while he was alive, but when the child died, you arose and ate food. And he said, ‘“While the child was alive, I fasted and wept; for I said, ‘Who can tell whether the Lord will be gracious to me, that the child may live?’ But now he is dead; why should I fast” (21-23a. Emphasis provided.)? He did not say, “I fasted and wept for I said, ‘Who can tell whether the Lord will hear me, that the child may live?’ He knew that the Lord had heard him. That is why he could hope that He might be gracious to him. He knew that God was listening. What he did not know was how God would answer.
We will dedicate some more time to this somewhat enigmatic topic.