Can You Hear Me Now?
"The LORD is far from the wicked, but he hears the prayer of the righteous.”—Proverbs 15:29
Verizon wireless ad campaign carries the tagline, “Can you hear me now?” The ad depicts a Verizon employee walking across the United States stopping at various points saying, “Can you hear me now? Good.” Then he proceeds to walk to the next point and repeat the process again and again. The point that Verizon wants to communicate is that no matter where you go, Verizon is there with you. But we know that there are places where we don’t get good reception, or any reception at all, no matter what Verizon says.
For the Christian, God wants us to understand that no matter where we go, He will hear us when we pray. But, the Bible is clear that when we disobey we take ourselves out of God’s reception. As the Psalmist wrote, “If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened”—Psalm 66:18. Or again in the book of Isaiah,
“Behold, the LORD’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save,
or His ear dull, that it cannot hear;
but your iniquities have made a separation
between you and your God,
and your sins have hidden His face from you
so that He does not hear”—Isaiah 59:1-2.
When we feel God is not listening to our prayers, we need to ask ourselves—who moved? It is not God. We have moved by our sins and acts of disobedience. There are only two ways to keep ourselves in God’s reception—obedience and confession, which prove our willingness to live under the authority of Christ’s Lordship. In this position, we experience the joy of having unfettered access to Him through Christ and what He did on the cross on our behalf. As the author of Hebrews wrote,
“Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that He opened for us through the curtain, that is, through His flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water”—Hebrews 10:19-22.
As Paul also wrote, “This was according to the eternal purpose that He has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in Him”—Ephesians 3:11-12.
If we found that we have turned to sin, the only way to get back into God’s reception is through confession. As John wrote, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness”—1 John 1:9.
God delights in our prayers when we come to Him through Christ, in full assurance of faith and humility. And He will answer our prayers as we pray according to the will and word of God. I hope that each one of us may seek Him in faith, pouring out our hearts before Him, delighted that He has given us the opportunity to pray and be heard by Him. Amen.
Verizon wireless ad campaign carries the tagline, “Can you hear me now?” The ad depicts a Verizon employee walking across the United States stopping at various points saying, “Can you hear me now? Good.” Then he proceeds to walk to the next point and repeat the process again and again. The point that Verizon wants to communicate is that no matter where you go, Verizon is there with you. But we know that there are places where we don’t get good reception, or any reception at all, no matter what Verizon says.
For the Christian, God wants us to understand that no matter where we go, He will hear us when we pray. But, the Bible is clear that when we disobey we take ourselves out of God’s reception. As the Psalmist wrote, “If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened”—Psalm 66:18. Or again in the book of Isaiah,
“Behold, the LORD’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save,
or His ear dull, that it cannot hear;
but your iniquities have made a separation
between you and your God,
and your sins have hidden His face from you
so that He does not hear”—Isaiah 59:1-2.
When we feel God is not listening to our prayers, we need to ask ourselves—who moved? It is not God. We have moved by our sins and acts of disobedience. There are only two ways to keep ourselves in God’s reception—obedience and confession, which prove our willingness to live under the authority of Christ’s Lordship. In this position, we experience the joy of having unfettered access to Him through Christ and what He did on the cross on our behalf. As the author of Hebrews wrote,
“Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that He opened for us through the curtain, that is, through His flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water”—Hebrews 10:19-22.
As Paul also wrote, “This was according to the eternal purpose that He has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in Him”—Ephesians 3:11-12.
If we found that we have turned to sin, the only way to get back into God’s reception is through confession. As John wrote, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness”—1 John 1:9.
God delights in our prayers when we come to Him through Christ, in full assurance of faith and humility. And He will answer our prayers as we pray according to the will and word of God. I hope that each one of us may seek Him in faith, pouring out our hearts before Him, delighted that He has given us the opportunity to pray and be heard by Him. Amen.
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