You Hear Me

I love the LORD, because He hears my voice and my supplications. Because He has inclined His ear to me, therefore I shall call upon Him as long as I live. – Psalm 116:1-2

Have you ever experienced moments where it feels as though all the prayers you have uttered seem to disappear into a black hole? When we are desperately needing the breakthrough, an answer, the healing, reconciliation or a miracle, doing all that we have been instructed through the word of God to do; to fast and pray unceasingly – and yet – nothing? 

Doubt casts its shadow on our faith and we are left flailing in the deep waters of our troubled seas. During these trying times of our lives the perennial million-dollar question is, “God, where are You? Are you still here?”. 

I remember when my daughter turned 15 months and spoke her first word. We were all buzzing with excitement that our little bub was growing up and learning to communicate with us! As a parent, I wanted to be in her world to know what she was thinking about. Finally, after 15 months it was going to be possible to do so. A whole new horizon just opened up in our relationship.

Whenever she tried to express herself, even if she was just babbling or stringing a few random words which did not always make sense together, I would drop everything I was doing to give her my fullest attention. I would encourage her by repeating her words back to her to let her know that I had heard what she said, or was trying to say.

Likewise, our Heavenly Father takes a keen interest in what we want to tell Him. In Psalm 116:2, He “inclines His ear” to us. He “stoops down” to lower Himself to our level, in the same way that a father squats down to speak with his child eye to eye. Our prayers do not need to be perfect or coherent, God is not bothered by that – He just wants to be with us, to know us, hear us, and commune with us. At the heart of it all, prayer is about relationship. 

Similarly, there are times when I cry out to God; as much as I am seeking for an answer or a solution, I desire more to receive comfort in the knowledge that I am seen, I am heard, and that God cares for me. Just as we pour out our sorrows to a good friend when going through a difficult time, we do so not necessarily with the expectation for our friend to solve our problems. We simply want to be heard, known, understood, and loved. The psalmist says in Ps 56:8 “You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book.” How comforting it is to know that our tears are precious to God!

Pregnant and in a distressing situation, the lowly slave Hagar fled into the desert following the harsh treatment from her mistress, Sarai. As a bondservant, running away from her master’s house was a crime. Thoughts must have been running through her mind: How would she survive on her own even if she had escaped? What about the baby in her womb? Downcast, she wondered about her fate. It was at this point of desperation in her life that she encountered God who sought her out (Gen 16:7), heard her (Gen 16:11) and saw her (Gen 16:13). Perceived as a threat, Hagar was cast out together with her son into the wilderness after the birth of her mistress’s son Isaac, God comes through for her once again in Genesis 21: 16 – 17, as the God who hears her. 

In the words of Joseph M. Scriven who wrote the hymn ‘What a friend we have in Jesus’, what a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer!