He Hears When the Heart Is Faint

 

Psalm 61:Hear my cry, O God, listen to my prayer;
2 from the end of the earth I call to you when my heart is faint.
Lead me to the rock that is higher than I,
3 for you have been my refuge, a strong tower against the enemy.
4 Let me dwell in your tent forever!
    Let me take refuge under the shelter of your wings! Selah
5 For you, O God, have heard my vows;
    you have given me the heritage of those who fear your name.

This is a psalm we can hear David singing.  Actually the psalm goes on to tell us it is the king singing it. David was for a long time a man on the run. Even a tent was a welcome shelter.  But he felt a far greater security under the protection of God, Who heard him and watched over him.  God is still listening today to those who are faint of heart and call out to Him.

When God Did Not "Hear"

Genesis 30:1 When Rachel saw that she bore Jacob no children, she envied her sister. She said to Jacob, “Give me children, or I shall die!” 2 Jacob's anger was kindled against Rachel, and he said, “Am I in the place of God, who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb?” 3 Then she said, “Here is my servant Bilhah; go in to her, so that she may give birth on my behalf, that even I may have children through her.” 4 So she gave him her servant Bilhah as a wife, and Jacob went in to her. 5 And Bilhah conceived and bore Jacob a son. 6 Then Rachel said, “God has judged me, and has also heard my voice and given me a son.” Therefore she called his name Dan. 

The rivalry between Rachel and Leah was intense.  It very much reflected the rivalry between her husband Jacob and his brother Esau.  We also see the same kind of manipulation taking place, trying to control the story to get one's own way. Rachel wanted it to appear like God had heard her and blessed her, judging her as right and good.  She had fooled herself that she could do so.  It is obvious to us that this was not the case, but often we are the same way, proclaiming that God had "answered our prayer," when actually we have sought to manipulate the situation to look or feel good.  As the passage goes on to tell us, the rivalry just intensified, and Rachel's sense of worthiness and fulfillment did not come until God actually did hear and answer, and give her a son.

God Hears Children Cry

 

Genesis 21:15 When the water in the skin was gone, she put the child under one of the bushes. 16 Then she went and sat down opposite him a good way off, about the distance of a bowshot, for she said, “Let me not look on the death of the child.” And as she sat opposite him, she lifted up her voice and wept. 17 And God heard the voice of the boy, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What troubles you, Hagar? Fear not, for God has heard the voice of the boy where he is. 18 Up! Lift up the boy, and hold him fast with your hand, for I will make him into a great nation.” 19 Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. And she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink. 20 And God was with the boy, and he grew up. He lived in the wilderness and became an expert with the bow. 

Hagar was crying because her son was suffering and crying.  God heard the cry of both the child and his mother.  The immediate need here was for water and God provided it. He also provided a hope and a future for this child and his mother.  How easily we forget God hears both. Let us teach our children to call out to God and let us never forget to call out to Him for them. God hears. He Cares. He acts.

Cry Out More!

 Matthew 20:29 And as they went out of Jericho, a great crowd followed him. 30 And behold, there were two blind men sitting by the roadside, and when they heard that Jesus was passing by, they cried out, “Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David!” 31 The crowd rebuked them, telling them to be silent, but they cried out all the more, “Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David!” 32 And stopping, Jesus called them and said, “What do you want me to do for you?” 33 They said to him, “Lord, let our eyes be opened.” 34 And Jesus in pity touched their eyes, and immediately they recovered their sight and followed him.

We have been looking at the fact that God does indeed hear us, especially when we call out to Him for help.  When Jesus was ministering on earth, we do not find a lot of verses saying: "Jesus heard them." But what we do find is Him responding because He heard. He heard their cries, their questions, and even their thoughts toward Him.  Here He hears and responds to the desperate cries of these two blind men. They were truly crying out "in the dark," hoping He could and would hear and heal them.  He did as they asked. Don't stop crying out to Him. 

The Lord Hears and Remembers

 Malachi 3:16 Then those who feared the Lord spoke with one another. The Lord paid attention and heard them, and a book of remembrance was written before him of those who feared the Lord and esteemed his name. 17 “They shall be mine, says the Lord of hosts, in the day when I make up my treasured possession, and I will spare them as a man spares his son who serves him. 18 Then once more you shall see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve him.

This is the closing chapter of the Old Testament, charging the people of Israel with forgetting God. It would be the last they would hear from Him for quite some time.  But He was hearing them. There was, as always, a remnant of those who fear God. He would remember them.  Jesus used the same promise in Luke 12, where He was also giving warnings and made a distinction between those who trusted in Him and those who rejected Him. God would remember the one who trusts in Him but not remember the ones who rejected Him.  God hears and remembers and acts at the right moment. He is not forgetful like us. 

No Dead Spots!

 

Jonah 2:1 Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the belly of the fish, 

2 saying,
“I called out to the Lord, out of my distress, and he answered me;
out of the belly of Sheol I cried, and you heard my voice.
3 For you cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas,
    and the flood surrounded me;
all your waves and your billows passed over me.
4 Then I said, ‘I am driven away from your sight;
yet I shall again look upon your holy temple.’

Almost everyone can remember the cell phone carrier commercial with the repeated phrase: "Can you hear me now?" There are some places which are so remote or inside certain kinds of structures, or in between cell towers, that there is no reception.  There is no place from which God cannot hear the prayer of one Who cries out to Him.  Even rebellious prophets like Jonah.  We like to pick on him, but we are no better. But we also can expect the same response he had when he called out to God. God heard and He acted.  Communication was restored and God was glorified.  God's receptivity is just as good and faithful today.

Because God Has Heard...

 Lamentations 3:55 “I called on your name, O Lord,
    from the depths of the pit; 
56 you heard my plea, ‘Do not close your ear to my cry for help!’
57 You came near when I called on you; you said, ‘Do not fear!’
58 “You have taken up my cause, O Lord; you have redeemed my life.
59 You have seen the wrong done to me, O Lord; judge my cause.
60 You have seen all their vengeance, all their plots against me.
61 “You have heard their taunts, O Lord, all their plots against me.

64 “You will repay them, O Lord, according to the work of their hands.

65 You will give them dullness of heart; your curse will be upon them.

66 You will pursue them in anger and destroy them

    from under your heavens, O Lord.”

We looked yesterday at the promise God gave through Jeremiah that He would hear the people when they finally came to repentance and claimed Him as "the Lord, Our God."  Here we find Jeremiah's lament after giving his whole series of calls to repent, finding Jerusalem leveled, most of his peers dead or taken away, leaving him to look upon all the devastation.  Even in that hour he could say: you heard my plea and came to my rescue. He could also leave vengeance in God's hands. He had done all he could to call them to repentance, but they resisted him on every side.  Jeremiah refused to fall into bitterness, allowing God to do what needed to be done both in his next step and those who had mocked him.

The Discussion Starter

 

Jeremiah 31:15 Thus says the Lord:
“A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping.
Rachel is weeping for her children; she refuses to be comforted for her children, because they are no more.”
16 Thus says the Lord:
“Keep your voice from weeping, and your eyes from tears,
for there is a reward for your work, declares the Lord,
    and they shall come back from the land of the enemy.
17 There is hope for your future, declares the Lord,
    and your children shall come back to their own country.
18 I have heard Ephraim grieving,
‘You have disciplined me, and I was disciplined,
    like an untrained calf; bring me back that I may be restored,
    for you are the Lord my God.

The end of this chapter is well-known for the announcement of The New Covenant. But before we get there we have this discussion on what must happen first.  God tells His people what must be said before this new hope is announced. He gives us the discussion starter that we know He will hear and answer. After years of exile they will call out and say: "I was wrong; please restore me; you are the Lord my God."