“But truly God has listened; he has attended to the voice of my prayer.”- Psalm 66:19
I had, in a previous posting, referenced James 5:16 (“The prayers of a righteous man accomplish much”). I stated that we are righteous because God declares we are righteous. He knows our heart and our deep-seated motivation which enables us to live righteous, obedient lives in the name of Christ, our Savior. Christ’s death cleansed us, making us righteous in God’s sight. The fact that God listened to the Psalmist’s prayer shows that the requester had no iniquity in his heart. The same would apply to us today. This proves to the Lord that the Psalmist doesn’t love sin and therefore is in good standing with God.
It needs to be noted that prayer, or talking to God, isn’t simply for the things we may need or desire. It is very much about creating and establishing an intimate relationship with the Lord which is built on faith and trust in him. God knows the desires of our heart way before we even think to ask, however, he still loves to hear from us. It doesn’t matter whether we are asking for guidance and thanking him for something, because it creates a significant and lasting bond that draws you closer to your maker. Therefore, if we have established anything throughout this Prayer Project, it’s that God hears the righteous voice and honors their prayers to the extent of providing an answer. The caveat in this is that the answer may not be what we are looking for or expecting. Our trust in God must allow us to accept that God knows the future from the past and exactly what we need, not to mention when the best time is to provide this answer. Trust is the key to all of this. We must trust God and the fact that we are making a request of him does reveal some level of trust.
Don’t just pray to God when you are in need, talk to him whenever you so desire. God is always there and is always listening.
Don’t make the mistake of placing human characteristics on God. While scripture does this to illuminate God’s nature and behavior, he is not like us at all. Statements like ‘God’s eye is always on his child’ or ‘God’s holy hand smote his enemies’ are used to clarify the meaning of the text. We are asked to believe in an unseen God who loves us. He is trustworthy and will never let any of us who call on him down. Until next time, walk with the King and be a blessing.
Richard Keller
Bread of Life Ministries
No comments:
Post a Comment