The Daily Devocast brings you daily encouragement from God’s word. Today’s devotional message The God Who Hears is based on Psalm 4:1.
Answer me when I call to you,
O God who declares me innocent.
Free me from my troubles.
Have mercy on me and hear my prayer.
(The New Living Translation, Psalm 4:1)
The opening of Psalm 4 is so intriguing. It’s almost as if David wants to be sure he has God’s attention before he gets into the meat of this particular dialog with God. As a parent, I can relate, because I’ve seen similar behavior from my own children.
My wife and I are blessed with ten kids, so it can be necessary for our kids to make sure they have our attention before they start detailing their request. Most of the time this involves some sort of a preamble that helps them establish that they indeed have captured our attention.
While my wife and I wish we could listen to and respond to all of our children at once. The reality is that we have human limitations. It is easy for us to engage with one child at a time or maybe two if we’re having a super awesome day, but that’s the upper limit. The encouraging thing is that God doesn’t suffer from our human restrictions. He is able to hear and respond to all of His children around the globe simultaneously. That’s just one of the many benefits of being an omnipresent deity.
The next time you pray, know that it’s still OK to add a little preamble at the beginning to ensure that you have God’s attention, but be assured that He’ll also hear you if you simply launch right into the heart of your prayer. God is right there ready and waiting to dialog with you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Prayer: Father, thank you for being the God who hears. Whether we’re soft or loud, indirect or straight to the point, You’re right there ready and waiting to respond to our prayers. Help us to feel empowered to approach you in our true identity, the kids of a good, good Father. Amen.
Action Step: Do you tend to hem and haw and add a lot of preliminary dialog to the beginning of your prayers? While there isn’t anything wrong with that, God is right there the moment you call out. He is laser-focused on you.
My challenge for you today is to mix things up the next time you pray. Envision yourself sitting across the table from God at a coffee shop or some other comfortable setting and pray in a conversational manner. When you’re finished, think about how this shifted your engagement in prayer. Record anything surprising or insightful in your journal.
Subscribe Today:
