I once prayed to God earnestly and tearfully. During my prayer, I felt God answering me; however, I wasn’t finished. I needed Him to hear my entire vent. Once I was done, I boldly (well, that’s my nice way of saying rebelliously) informed God that if His answer was not what I wanted it to be then I wasn’t listening.
The psalmist wrote, in Psalm 141:1,
O, Lord, I am calling to you. Please hurry! Listen when I cry to you for help.
We call to God and ask for help. We even ask Him to hurry! Sure, we would love God to answer our prayers just as quickly as we ask. Sometimes He does…sometimes He already has… sometimes He does not. Regardless of when God answers, we need to make sure we are listening.
God’s word clearly says He answers prayers.
For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds;
and to him who knocks, the door will he opened.
Matthew 7:7
Remember God is a God of hearts. He cares about character more than our comfort. Whenever I ask God if He is listening to me, I always feel Him say:
“Are you listening to me?”
My earlier story was an extreme example. We don’t often walk around, boldly proclaiming that we aren’t going to listen to God. No, we use more subtle methods.
- God commands us to love, yet, we add conditions to our love and when those conditions aren’t met, well, (we think) that’s not our fault.
- God commands us to forgive, yet, we hold “justified” grudges.
- God says to be honest, yet, we claim white lies are merciful.
In Luke 5:4-6, Jesus told Peter to let down his nets for a catch, and although Peter and his partners had worked all night and caught nothing, Peter listened to the Lord and his nets were filled.
In Luke 18: 21-23, Jesus told the rich young ruler to sell everything and follow him. “When he heard this, he became very sad, because he was a man of great wealth.” He listened to the Lord, as well.
One was blessed and the other was sad. What’s the difference between these two scenarios? Both men listened to Jesus but differently. Peter listened to Jesus, decided to obey and was blessed. The rich young ruler listened to Jesus, decided to disobey, and was sad. What you do with what you hear is just as important as listening.
The Sovereign Lord has opened my ears, and I have not been rebellious;
I have not drawn back.
Isaiah 50:5
God’s listening. Are you?
* * * * *
Lord, thank You that You speak to us through Your word and through Your spirit…during the quiet of the night and the roar of the storm. You are faithful. Give us listening ears and obeying hearts and help us to see You. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
About Ahmee Bronaugh
I was touched by your statement, ” Remember God is a God of hearts. He cares about character more than our comfort.”
“Help me be willing to listen. Amen.”
Amen. Agreeing with that statement has helped me tremendously in my faith walk.
There is only one thing God requires of us. Of all the rules and regulations in our world, the Creator only requires one thing…obedience. The only way to be obedient is to hear what is asked of us. To hear, we must care. There lies the heart problem. Thank you for giving me something else to think about, Ahmee.
More to think about!? Never ends does it. But your comment reminds me of a saying I grew attracted to in my teenage years: “Don’t ask the question, if you don’t really want the answer.” I had become annoyed with people who would ask me how I was and then immediately keep talking. If you don’t care, don’t ask! Thankfully, God knows us and He knows just how to tug at our hearts. 🙂
I suppose one day in the future a devotional will warrant me finishing that story, cause it didn’t end there!
Good stuff here, Ahmee! Definitely some good food for thought!
Plenty o’ thinking going on. Glory be to God. ^.^ This wasn’t what I had planned on writing about at all. The Lord spoke to me about this topic while driving. Funny part? I actually said, “Oh, that’s good, but I wasn’t planning on writing about that.” I paused. Replayed the conversation in my head. And laughed the whole way home.
Good stuff. Marinating on this. Always need to be reminded that God is concerned with our hearts not comfort. Thanks 🙂
Comfort is nice on it’s own, but letting God work in my heart, and remembering that’s what He is doing, is even more comforting. Gotta love how God makes even nice things better. 🙂
so thankful to be reminded that God always listens! and i am endeavoring to listen to Him… thanks, ahmee! <3
Endeavoring to listen! Seems hard sometimes. Especially, because we, as a society, are so geared towards INSTANT! Thankfully, the Lord also reminds us of the rewards for listening.
One of my favorites is Luke 6:47-48, “‘I will show you what he is like who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice. He is like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house, but could not shake it, because it was well built.'”
I pray we all have improved listening!
Always a good message my friend!
<3