Where must I go, and what must I do to have my prayers heard and answered by God? It’s important who you ask. If you go to a Muslim, you will be told to pray toward the City of Mecca on your face five times a day. Buddhists will tell you to travel to shrines with gifts to lay before idols and to make sure your look is humble so as not to offend or provoke. In the Old Testament, King Solomon told his subjects that they were to pray toward the temple in Jerusalem, and that no matter how much trouble they were in and no matter where they were carried away to, God would hear their prayers. It wasn’t because the temple held certain power but because God had chosen to put his presence there.
For now have I chosen and sanctified this house, that my name may be there for ever: and mine eyes and mine heart shall be there perpetually. (II Chronicles 7:16)
The temple was torn to the ground by the Babylonians at the time of captivity, rebuilt under the direction of Nehemiah and Ezra 70 years later, abandoned again, then rebuilt… So, how did the faithful have assurance that God heard their prayers?
What did the true God of Heaven require? He said in Psalm 34 verse 18, “The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.” It isn’t the position of your body but the posture of your soul that matters. Jonah cried out to God from a whale’s belly at the bottom of the sea, and he was heard. Daniel prayed faithfully toward the ruins of the temple three times a day, but his whispered cries were also heard in the confusion of the lion’s den. We can expect the Lord to hear and answer our prayers when our hearts and minds are surrendered to Him, regardless of the position in which we find ourselves.
1 Out of the depths have I cried unto thee, O Lord.
Out of the deepest and most lonely place, our pleas still reach to heaven. God is not only everywhere, He is aware of everything. His attention to all of creation is absolute. Whether or not I get an immediate answer, God is aware of my cries. A believer can rest assured that the faith you put in God is safely placed, you will not be abandoned.
2 Lord, hear my voice: let thine ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications.
3 If thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?
The psalmist confesses his sin and the state of mankind. If God won’t hear those guilty of sin, then He won’t hear any of us, because we all come as beggars to His throne. God knows who and what we are. To be sure, there is a record. However, God in His graciousness doesn’t refuse us because of our past, if we humble ourselves before Him He will make us able to stand. It isn’t our record that God is focused on but on the precious blood shed on our behalf. Through the finished work of Christ, we can receive an audience with the Lord. There would be no point in praying at all if it was only our works that God considered, but we can know that we are heard, loved, and accepted when we abide in Christ.
Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.
I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. (John 15:4-5)
4 But there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared.
How are forgiveness and reverential fear connected? When you realize what you have been saved from and how dire the consequences of sin are, then there is a humbling that automatically occurs. We who have been born again no longer face eternity separated from God and eternally punished, which we rightly deserve.
Imagine being saved from a literal fire. If you had to be rescued, carried even, out of a burning building, placed in safety as you watch flames engulf your home, you would be grateful and respectful to those firefighters who would endanger themselves to save you. When you think about what could have happened, you would offer thanks and even praise for those who did for you what you could not do for yourself.
Those responses are appropriate, but the scale on which God snatched you from the fire is far greater. Because I have been forgiven, I will never forget how awesome and how worthy of respect my God is.
5 I wait for the Lord, my soul doth wait, and in his word do I hope.
I can be certain, as a believer whose faith rests in Christ, that my prayers are heard, but sometimes, the response can be long in coming. In the depths of sorrow, disappointment, or even in the middle of the consequences of our actions, God asks us to wait on Him. Hope is a challenging word, the meaning of which has changed over time. When we say we “hope” today, it’s equal to saying “I wish.” That isn’t what the Bible means by using the word hope. When the psalmist says he hopes in God’s word, he means that he has placed all of his confidence in it. Because God has always been faithful and kept His word, I can confidently and certainly trust that He will take care of me even in my darkest hour. He has never failed, and He never will.
6 My soul waiteth for the Lord more than they that watch for the morning: I say, more than they that watch for the morning.
Who watches for the morning? Those who are in danger in the night. Soldiers would watch for morning, in the times before artificial light their position and the enemy’s position were lost when the sun went down. Those who are without shelter would watch for the morning. Those creatures that prowl in the night would be terrifying until they could be clearly seen. Those who are injured or sick, lost or alone, those who are confused and unsure have much more to fear when they can’t see the situation clearly. When we find ourselves spiritually confused and frightened, we also wait for God to make the way clear. We know He will because He alone is able to take care of every need that we bring to Him, and we fervently wait for His light to shine.
7 Let Israel hope in the Lord: for with the Lord there is mercy, and with him is plenteous redemption.
8 And he shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities.
In order to be redeemed, one has to have lost everything, including their freedom. They belonged to the enemy, either because, out of desperation, they sold themselves into slavery, or because they had been captured by an enemy and were sold. To be redeemed is to be bought back. The people of the nation of Israel sold themselves to idols and were captured as a result of sin and corruption by enemy nations. But God is a redeemer, He is the master of impossible situations and He is full of mercy. We have been redeemed, purchased by the blood of Christ, and bought back from our enemy, Satan. Humanity sold itself, starting in the Garden of Eden, we have been captured by our own self-destructive and sinful appetites and our situation seems utterly hopeless. If you find yourself in that position, there is hope, God can redeem us, He is “plenteous in redemption,” there is an abundance of mercy to be found by the people of God. When we say we are redeemed, we are saying that we belong to Christ, the one who made us, loves us, rescues us, and abides with us. To be redeemed is to be brought back to where we were designed to be.
Questions:
What situations make us think our prayers are not heard?
How can I be sure that God hears my prayers?
What can we do to wait patiently when God seems to be silent?
From what have you been redeemed?
Thank you for studying with us! God bless!