To Encourage You

Judges 13:8-9 “Then Manoah prayed to the Lord and said, “O Lord, please let the man of God whom you sent come again to us and teach us what we are to do with the child who will be born.” And God listened to the voice of Manoah, and the angel of God came again to the woman as she sat in the field.”

The wonders of our God: it’s one of the themes running through the story of Samson.  In the verse above, we see the father of Samson praying to the Lord about this son that the angel of the Lord had told Manoah’s barren wife that she would bear.  We are told that “God listened to the voice of Manoah.” Do you think much about this, i.e., that God listens to your voice when you pray?  I’m reminded of the huge satellite dish antennae that scientists have pointed to the skies for many years just hoping to hear some faint signal that might be coming from life in outer space. Yet, here we have One Who is Life, Who dwells above the highest heavens, and Who is listening to our every word, for “This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us (1 John 5:14).” And not only that, He has spoken to us, not in obscure and faint radio waves, but in words that we can understand, words that He has written down in black and white in the pages of His Word. 

That the God who created everything cares to hear what we say and that He also speaks to us is a wonderful thing. He has told us to pray about everything (Philippians 4:6). Have you ever thought about what a wonderful invitation this is?  We have been told that “the prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective” (James 5:16).  God hears us.  He’s attentive to our prayers. “The eyes of the LORD are toward the righteous and his ears toward their cry” (Psalm 34:15). When you pray, is it a matter of habit, a religious rite that you practice by rote, or do you stop to consider that the Creator of the universe is listening to you?  Do you realize that when you “go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father Who is in secret . . . (that) . . . your Father Who sees in secret will reward you (Matthew 6.6)”? 

I believe that if we would stop and truly consider the wonder of this all, it would affect our prayer lives deeply.  We would be awestruck by how wonderful this privilege of prayer is.  May God help us to grasp the reality of the truth that God hears us, that He wants to hear from us, and that He wants to enter such an intimate fellowship of communion with us.

What a wonderful thing to talk to our wonderful God and to realize that He so wonderfully hears and answers us. Praise His glorious name!