"What is the matter, Hagar? Do not be afraid; God has heard the boy crying as he lies there" (Genesis 21:17). God hears us. There are times when we wonder if God even realizes we exist, but God knows when we need Him. This young man's suffering had a "voice" which our compassionate God heard and answered where and when he so desperately needed it. He does the same for us. Anguish has its own peculiar voice: "I am worn out from groaning...The Lord has heard my weeping. The Lord has heard my cry for mercy" (Psalm 6:6,8,9). "But when we cried out to the Lord, he heard our cry..." (Numbers 20:16); "The Lord listened to Israel's plea..." (Numbers 21:3); "Then we cried out to the Lord...and the Lord heard our voice and saw our misery..." (Deuteronomy 26:7); "There was never a day like it...a day when the Lord listened to a man" (Joshua 10:14); "The Lord heard Elijah's cry..." (1 Kings 17:22); "In my distress I called to the Lord, and he answered me" (Jonah 2:2); and Jesus: "Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me..." (John 11:41,42). We cannot doubt that God hears and answers prayer, as unimaginative as it sounds. We have heard it over and over, but when the "waves and breakers" begin to drown us, we need to be reminded again that God is a viable and veritable force, not so much to be reckoned with as to be trusted. "Deep calls to deep in the roar of [our] waterfalls," (Psalm 42:7), and God is the Captain who asks us to keep our eye and heart on Him, as we walk on the roaring waves of life (Matthew 14:29-31). He asks us, too, "You of little faith, why did you doubt that I can rescue you; that I hear your faint cries?" "Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know" (Jeremiah 33:3). |
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