God listens to us.

In my distress I called upon the Lord;

to my God I cried for help.

From his temple he heard my voice,

and my cry to him reached his ears.

Psalm 18:6

God listens to the prayers we make. Why else would we pray if this were not true? The reality of prayer is bound up in the important expectation that God listens to His people. God hears prayer. God answers prayer. God loves to act on the behalf of His creation. We can be sure that God hears us and listens attentively to our prayers.

I love the way Psalm 18 describes how God responds to our distress. He flies down from His heavenly throne riding on the wings of a mighty angel to attend to the cries of His people. He arrives to deal with oppression and pain, and the ground where He lands trembles and smokes in the fury of His fierce response. He shares the feelings of His people and answers their prayers passionately and powerfully. Prayer brought God’s undivided attention. It always does.

I need this reminder because sometimes I choose to discard prayer because I think a circumstance is not worthy of God’s attention. But that is wrong of me. God sees and knows all that is going on in my life. He listens to prayer and knows what I need and when I need it. He is ready to act, to love, and to give good gifts to His children. Jesus reminded us we should ask of Him like children ask of their parents and that when we do so he longs to give help to us. Jesus said we don’t have from Him because we don’t ask of Him. So NOT praying is a spiritual failure. Prayer is always a spiritual win when my desire is for God to show His power and glory! Prayer thus fits any occassion because God listens to us, and listening, acts on our behalf always in the very best way for our good and His glory.