Lent Day 14

Psalm 116:1-2

I love the Lord, for He heard my voice;

He heard my cry for mercy

Because He turned His ear to me,

I will call on Him as long as I live

Have you ever prayed and wondered if God was really listening?  I love this verse because it gives us the answer to that question with a resounding “Yes”!

Love – the Hebrew word is ahab and means to have a strong emotional attachment and a desire to be in the presence of the person you love.

Heard – Hebrew sama, means to give undivided attention to and to understand what one has heard.  

Cry for mercy – Hebrew Tahnun, means prayer.

Ear- Hebrew Ozen, means to listen, hear in the sense of turning one’s ear toward the speaker to listen closely.

When you put all of this together, you realize the personal attention God gives each one of us.  When we pray, He gives us His undivided attention. Because He is God, He is able to become completely immersed in each prayer lifted to Him. Not only does He give us His undivided attention, He understands what we have said.   Have you ever prayed and not really known what to pray for?   God not only hears our prayers , but He knows our heart and where our prayers are coming from.  So He knows what we are praying for, He knows what lies behind the prayer, he knows what the true needs of your prayer is.   You don’t have to fully explain it to Him, you don’t ever have to feel that God doesn’t understand what you are trying to say or ask for, because He knows.

The best part of these verses, I think, is “because He turned His ear to me,”.   Have you ever been talking to someone and they turned their head slightly, maybe leaned in alittle closer to you so they could hear every word you are saying?  It makes you feel important, valued..loved.  This is what our God does everytime we pray.  We are that important to Him that He doesn’t want to miss a single word we say. So He leans in close and turns His ear to capture every word, every expression of emotion, everything we left unsaid.   He loves us so,  He doesn’t want to miss anything from us.

As I grow in my faith and as I see more and more how He answers my prayers, I grow in confidence He is listening and I learn to trust in  these verses even more.  Trust that He is listening, trust that He is understanding and trust that He will answer to the best of my needs.

So pray in confidence that God is listening.  He is leaning in and turning His ear to hear you because He loves you so.  Pray and feel loved.

Grace and Peace,

LeAnn