The God Who Hears

I was listening to a news broadcast on the Victory channel the other day when the commentator noted “If you ever feel sometimes like your prayers never rise higher than your ears, take heart. They don’t need to rise any higher because God lives within you, and He hears”.  I love that, and is one of the things I like most about listening to the news from a Christian perspective.  When the world has gone mad sometimes you just need to hear one sliver of truth to make your world all right again.

I’m in the process of reading through Psalms. Not just speed reading, but slowly enjoying. I know lots of people who speed read through the bible and then some each year and I used to envy them for it until I released myself from that guilt and realized it’s just not my style. I get so much more if I slowly chew my way through a delicious meal than I do if I gulp it down. Gulping just forces me to swallow a bunch of air with the food and you don’t want to be around when I begin belching all that air back up! Anyway, I digress. The Psalms are, to me, a delicious spiritual meal full of juicy fat and calories that include desserts that make your mouth water and gain 5 pounds just from the taste!

After picking up on the tidbit about the God who is with us hears us, the next Psalm I came to was chapter 22.  To say the least, it really drove home this very point!  I know there are many Psalms that can and will drive home the same, but this is where I was in the moment.

Not only does Psalm 22 lay out some amazingly prophetic statements about Jesus and his death on the cross, we should also remember it was written by King David (I believe at a time just before the rebellion of his son, Absalom).  We’ve likely all heard that King David was a man after God’s own heart, how he followed the Lord all his days and was mightily blessed. Note how he feels in verse 2:

“Why do you remain distant, refusing to answer my tearful cries in the day and my desperate cries for your help in the night? I can’t stop sobbing. Where are you, my God?”

Psalms 22:2 TPT

As the Psalm progresses it paints a grim picture of circumstances, but beginning in verse 19 we see a BUT… (“But You, O Lord, be not far off; O You my help, hasten to my assistance”).  The faith of the Psalmist, King David, begins to turn from feeling to knowing, as he has a solid trust in Yahweh regardless of circumstance.  By verse 24 we read:

“For He has not despised my cries of deep despair. He’s my first responder to my sufferings, and when I was in pain, He was there all the time and heard the cries of the afflicted.”

Psalms 22:24 TPT

Ahhh, He HEARD! Regardless of how David felt, God heard his cry. He goes on to say:

“You’re the reason for my praise; it comes from you and goes to you. I will keep my promise to praise you before all who fear you among the congregation of your people.”

Psalms 22:25 TPT

What does this speak to you about God?  Sometimes feeling is not relevant.  Knowing, believing, trusting is relevant.  For we walk by faith, not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7).  Our God is a living, breathing God who walks beside us. Our God is a good, good Father.  Our God is the God who makes a way for us when there is no other way. Our God is not taken by surprise or disturbed by chaos. Our God is the God who IS.

Be courageous. Be blessed. Eat a good meal this Thanksgiving!