The God Who Hears You

"Always respond to every impulse to pray. The impulse to pray may come when you are reading or when you are battling with a text. I would make an absolute law of this – always obey such an impulse." ―Martyn Lloyd-Jones

How important would you feel if your father had 3 billion kids' phone numbers in his iPhone 4S, and you were just one of them? How much attention could one man give that many children? Virtually none. But we're talking about our heavenly Father, here. God, it turns out, has no limitations on His power, His knowledge, or His ability to be everywhere for everyone all at once! This was made clear in His talk with Moses. God said:

"I am pleased with you and I know you by name." ―Exodus 33:17

One New Year’s season I was sitting with thousands of college students at the Urbana conference at Illinois University. The arena was packed to the rafters. At one point in the program, they asked us all to pray…out loud. 20,000 students praying at the top of their lungs. I was overwhelmed not just by the noise or the cumulative effect but by the simple fact that God was capable of hearing all the prayers, deciphering the desires, formulating each request, and answering each one perfectly.

‘God is a fraud’

Parashat Beha’alotecha (Numbers 8:1-12:16)

BY RABBI PAUL KIPNES

In this week’s parasha, Beha’alotecha, Moses faces the fragility of life as he watches his sister, Miriam, struggle with tzara’at, a dangerous skin disease. Overcome with anguish, Moses cries out to God. His five-word prayer, the shortest recorded in the Torah, beseeches the Holy One: El na r’fa na la (O God, please heal her). God hears, and miraculously Miriam is healed (Numbers 12:1-16). For some, this parasha provides comfort that, indeed, our prayers for healing work. And then there are people like Sarah.

Sarah walked into my office, sat in a chair and confessed, “My mother doesn’t know me anymore.” Tears began streaming down her face. I recognized that a while had passed since I had seen her around the synagogue. She continued, “My mother sits in the convalescent home, weeks now after her fall. Her hip is on the mend, but her mind continues to deteriorate. I tell her, ‘Ma, it’s me. Your daughter.’ Sometimes she looks confused. Sometimes she smiles. Then … then it is as if she’s gone. She just doesn’t remember me.”

Does God Ever Refuse to Hear Prayers?

Most of us believe that when we “cry out” to God—that is, appeal to Him through prayer—He always hears those prayers. “Ask,” we read in Matthew 7:7, “and it will be given to you.” But what about Bible passages that suggest that sometimes God doesn’t listen to our prayers?

Consider Psalm 66, in which the author gives thanks that God answered his prayer, but suggests that God might not have done so in certain circumstances:

Come and hear, all you who fear God,
and I will tell what he has done for my soul.
I cried to him with my mouth,
and high praise was on my tongue.
If I had cherished iniquity in my heart,
the Lord would not have listened.
But truly God has listened;
he has attended to the voice of my prayer.

Blessed be God,
because he has not rejected my prayer
or removed his steadfast love from me! — Psalm 66:16-20 (ESV) (empahsis mine)

A God Who Hears

By Mike DeVries

Before they call I will answer; while they are still speaking I will hear. Isaiah 65:24

I was talking with someone recently about a family crisis he is going through when he made this comment, “I just need God to hear me. I need to know that God is listening. Is that too much to ask for?”

Perhaps you’ve found yourself in the same situation. You’ve found yourself in a place where you are crying out to God, and the whole time you’re wondering, is He even listening? Perhaps you’ve found yourself in a place along your journey where you are looking around and asking, “God, if you’re supposed to be God, then why is ____________ happening?”

If you have been there (or you are there at this moment), you’re in good company. The Scriptures are filled with people who struggled with these exact questions. We encounter people who, in the face of tremendous doubt, have cried out to God, “Where are you?”

Thanking God for Unanswered Prayers

March 26, 2013

Dear Reader: Happy Passover! For the next eight days, we celebrate Pesach (Passover), offering you devotional reflection tied to this very special observance as well as Torah readings for each day. Since no work is done on the holiest of these days, these devotions were prepared in advance for you.
"His sister stood at a distance to see what would happen to him." —Exodus 2:4

Today is Day 1 of the eight-day Passover celebration. The Torah reading for today is from Exodus 12:21–51 and the Haftorah is from Joshua 3:5–7; 5:2–6:1; 6:27.

What if God answered every prayer with a resounding "YES"? Would the world be a better and happier place or a worse one? For example, what if God had answered Miriam's prayer as she stood among the reeds next to the Nile River where her baby brother, Moses, floated in a basket designed to protect him as he drifted in the water?

As you remember the story, Miriam and her mother had placed Moses in the basket as a last resort. The Egyptians had resolved to kill every single Hebrew baby boy. Miriam and her mother hoped that a non-Egyptian would find the infant and have mercy on him.

Are You Waiting in God’s Waiting Room?

Written by Lillian Penner

Is God teaching you something while you are waiting for an answer from Him?  Are you listening to Him? Do you pray for patience?

Recently my husband and I were waiting for a connecting flight in a large airport. Our first flight arrived early enough to be able to request an earlier “standby flight” for our last leg of the trip home. We had already been in the airport about five hours and we were anxiously waiting for our “standby status” to be cleared. As weary travelers, we didn’t want to wait three more hours for our reserved flight. We prayed and waited while we watched the monitor for our “stand-by” clearance. Finally, the agent gave us clearance to board the plane.

This scenario reminded me of my prayer life. Many times, I have to wait and “standby” for God’s answer. God doesn’t always answer my prayers immediately when I pray and I have to wait in God’s waiting room for a while. Our society has conditioned us to expect immediate results. We find it very difficult to wait for anything.