The God Who Hears

A little phrase caught my eye in Psalm 65 the other day. Speaking to God, David writes, “O you who hear prayer, to you all flesh shall come.” In this phrase, David is not saying that God’s “ears” register a recognition of the sound of our prayers. He is saying that God actively listens to and takes in our prayers.

We’ve all experienced those times when we talk to someone but know they aren’t really listening. They look away or look at their phone while we talk. They may say “Mmm Hmm” to let us know that they hear sound. But their mumbling may also be a deflection tactic to cover them for not really listening.

Yet God hears prayer. He responds to it according to His will, His wisdom and for our best. But sometimes we may doubt this if we have not yet heard from God. Here are some reminders of God’s hearing.

• Genesis 16:11 - And the angel of the Lord said to her, “Behold, you are pregnant and shall bear a son. You shall call his name Ishmael, because the Lord has listened to your affliction.
• Genesis 30:17 - And God listened to Leah, and she conceived and bore Jacob a fifth son.
• 1 Kings 17:22 - And the Lord listened to the voice of Elijah. And the life of the child came into him again, and he revived.
• Psalm 34:17 -When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears and delivers them out of all their troubles.
• Psalm 55:17 - Evening and morning and at noon I utter my complaint and moan, and he hears my voice.
• Psalm 66:19 - But truly God has listened; he has attended to the voice of my prayer.
• Psalm 69:33 - For the Lord hears the needy and does not despise his own people who are prisoners.
• Psalm 145:19 - He fulfills the desire of those who fear him; he also hears their cry and saves them.
• Proverbs 15:29 - The Lord is far from the wicked, but he hears the prayer of the righteous.
• 1 John 5:14-15 And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.

God does not get distracted or bored with our prayers. Keep on praying about everything!