Did He Hear Me?

Devotion for the Week...

During church yesterday, our pastor said something that immediately made me think, 'That needs to be tomorrow's devotion.' It's a simple thought, but one that maybe you need to hear, too.

Pastor Baker said, "Sometimes I equate God's hearing me, with His response." He went on to say that sometimes his wife, Joy, will say something, but he doesn't respond right away, so then she'll say, "Wayne, did you hear me?" He did hear her, but he didn't respond, so she thought he didn't hear. "We do the same thing with God," he said.

We can sometimes feel that if God didn't give us the answer immediately, that means He didn't hear us at all. That's not true! He always hears His people. Proverbs 15:29 says, "He hears the prayers of the righteous." As believers in Jesus, we are counted among the righteous, and so we are assured that God hears our prayers, even if He doesn't respond immediately.

When the childcare littles are having lunch or snacks with me, I always wipe their hands when they're finished. So they'll say, "I'm all done!" and then I get the cloth and wipe them off. Sometimes, though, if I'm chewing something or talking to someone else, I don't say anything to them as I get the cloth, so they start chanting, "I'm all done, I'm all done, I'm all done" because they think I didn't hear them. They'll do this even if I'm walking across the kitchen to get the cloth, or if I'm walking towards them with it in my hand; because I didn't answer them verbally, they think I didn't hear. They're used to me answering them as I go to get the cloth, so the times that I don't, they think I'm not responding at all. They can't yet make the connection that my actions are in response to what they've said, even if I didn't say anything.

Maybe you've been feeling like God hasn't heard you. Maybe you've been praying for something and there has been no response, or the response doesn't look like what you were expecting. No matter what the circumstances are, we can rest assured that He hears every prayer we pray, even if He doesn't respond right away.