He Hears, He Sees, He Answers

Psalms 86:6-7 Give ear, O Lord, to my prayer; and attend to the voice of my supplications. In the day of my trouble I will call upon You, for You will answer me.

Am I the only one who feels like the Israelites when they were slaves in Egypt? What I mean is that they were slaves for 400 years, and during that whole time that they cried out to the LORD, they must have felt like this psalmist felt in verse 1, “Bow down Your ear, O LORD, hear me; for I am poor and needy.” Yet, for 400 years…silence. We pray, and if God does not answer in a day or two, we go into panic mode and have a meltdown. Although the psalmist started out pleading for God to hear him in verse 1, by the time he wrote verses 6 and 7, he was stating with confidence that God was going to answer him. That fact is still true today. The same God who said to Moses in Exodus 3:7, “I have surely seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows”, is the same God who hears our cries and sees our pain. Although He may not answer right away, He already has the solution, and a plan was in place long before we found ourselves crying out to Him. He knows what we have need of, long before the need arises, and long before we ask. Our God is not deaf, and He is not blind. He does, however, operate on His own timetable; and His timing is always perfect. We may not understand why the trial has come; and the solutions that make sense to us are not necessarily the ones God wants to put to action. There is no doubt that there will be times when we will have to simply trust that what God is allowing and doing is necessary for that time. We need not lean on our own flawed understanding. Instead, we need to fervently pray, keep our eyes open for an answer, and trust that God will answer in a way that is best for us, and will bring Him the greatest glory. That is what He did when Mary and Martha called upon Him to come and heal their sick brother, Lazarus. Jesus could have responded right away, and healed him. Yet, Jesus chose to wait, knowing that allowing Lazarus to die, then raising him from the dead, rather than healing him, would bring the most glory to God, and the most joy to both Mary and Martha. What are we praying for today that God has not yet answered? Have we given up? Do we feel that God just is not listening and does not care? Well, He certainly cared about the Israelites' cries for 400 years, and already knew how He would deliver them. Do not fret, and keep crying out to Him. He hears us, sees our circumstances, and is faithful to answer at just the right time.

Today, God extends an invitation to you to accept His free gift of salvation (Rom 7:23). Will you accept it? Anyone who calls on Jesus, by faith, in repentance, confessing your sins, will receive eternal life. Do not put off calling on Him, and receive His free gift of salvation today (Rom 10:13).