God Hears My Prayers

Is there anyone out there who loves dropped calls? Failed text messages? Emails that won’t send?  Well, I sure don’t. In fact, I rather DISLIKE when that happens. For two reasons: One, it shows my incompetence of electronics (I see you smiling), and Two, it means that whatever I was trying to communicate, didn’t get through. It can be very frustrating, or even worrisome, when we can’t communicate our point. It puts an uncertainty in us that shouldn’t be there: “am I being heard?”

The cool thing is when you are talking to God, that answer is always an emphatic “YES!!” There are many places in God’s Word that remind us of this. Here are just a few:

“The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears them; he delivers them from all their troubles.” – Psalm 34:17

“I LOVE the Lord, because He has heard [and now hears] my voice and my supplications. Because He has inclined His ear to me, therefore will I call upon Him as long as I live.” – Psalm 116:1-2

“And this is the confidence (the assurance, the privilege of boldness) which we have in Him: [we are sure] that if we ask anything (make any request) according to His will (in agreement with His own plan), He listens to and hears us. And if (since) we [positively] know that He listens to us in whatever we ask, we also know [with settled and absolute knowledge] that we have [granted us as our present possessions] the requests made of Him.” 1 John 5: 14-15

God always hears our prayers. Where ever. When ever. And as our story for this week shows, that was a good thing for Joshua.

Joshua had led the Israelites into the Promised Land. He had also, with God’s help, led them to victory over both Jericho and Ai now. News of this spread like wild fire, and soon a coalition of rulers formed against Joshua and his army. Now, there was one town, greater than Ai, called Gibeon. The Gibeonites feared Israel, but instead of fighting, they tricked the Israelites into signing a peace treaty with them. When the royal coalition of kings found out, they were, in a word……upset. So they gathered all of their men (that’s FIVE kingdoms worth for those playing at home), and headed towards Gibeon. When Gibeon was found out about this impending invasion, they sent word to…..guess who? That’s right, Joshua. Although, I’m sure, Joshua cringed at the news, he knew what he had to do. He had to be true to his word (an admirable trait). Joshua gathered all his fighting men and marched all night to help Gibeon. During the march Joshua heard God say to him: “Do not be afraid of them, for I have given them into your hands. Not one will withstand you.” That must have been a relief! When Joshua and the Israelites arrived in the morning, they took the other armies by surprise. The other kingdoms were thrown into confusion, and Joshua capitalized. But even after a whole day of fighting, not all of the armies were defeated yet. Fearing they might escape, Joshua asked God for something huge! He prayed for the Sun to STAND STILL where it was, so there would be more daylight hours to finish the battle. The only thing more absurd than his request, was God’s answer. God heard Joshua’s prayer….and granted it! The earth stopped rotating, and the daylight was extended far longer than usual. Joshua finished the battle in victory.

God hears all of our prayers and requests. Even the ones we don’t verbally say. He reads our body language, interprets our tears, and understands our sighs. And no, he doesn’t always answer us with a yes. I’m sure we can all think of a time when the answer was “NO.” Or even “wait!” But the majesty is this, that He always hears us, and always answers us with and in Love! (And let’s be honest, you can think of a time when He said no and you realized it was for the best, which is what He wants for us). We may not always be heard by those we text, call, or email, but we can KNOW that we’re ALWAYS heard when we pray to God. And that’s something to talk about : )

Nathan Zaso
Cove Kids