The Lord Hears 

   There is a line in an old movie that I’ve always remembered, even though don't remember of the name of the movie.  In it the King of England was talking with one of his friends or counselors and mentioned God’s answer to his prayer.  The friend asked then asked him if God always answered his prayers, to which the king replied,  “I am the King of England, when I pray, God answers.”

   Fortunately, we don’t have to be the King of England for God to hear our prayers and answer.  There is never a prayer that God does not hear and never a prayer that He does not answer.  We may not get the answer we want or expect, but we will get a response.

   Naturally, we pray from our worldly perspective of life.  Things that may seem incredibly important to us may be of little worth for our spiritual life and yet we pray as if we must receive the answer we asked for.  God hears our prayer, but He knows what we really need, so His answer will be what He knows is best for us rather than what we might have asked.

   His answer may be “yes”, and we will be pleased. like the king in the movie.  However, we may not be ready for what we asked so the answer may be “perhaps later, but not right now”.  Then again, we may have asked for something that is totally wrong for us and the answer could be an emphatic “No!  Not now, now ever”.

   I believe there is also another cause for a prayer not being answered as we think it should.  Jesus told His apostles, “And if you have faith, everything you ask for you will receive.” (Matt 21: 22).  If we do not have faith in God and trust that He will answer our prayers how can we expect that He will respond as we wish?

 

   “The eyes of the Lord are directed toward the righteous and his ears hear their cries.” (Psalm 34: 16)