Tag: God sees

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Does God hear me?

Reading Time: 2 minutes

“Hear my prayer, O Lord! Listen to my cries for help! Don’t ignore my tears. For I am your guest— a traveler passing through, as my ancestors were before me. Leave me alone so I can smile again before I am gone and exist no more.” Psalms‬ ‭39‬:‭12‬-‭13‬ ‭NLT‬‬

David, in writing many of the Psalms, never held back what he thinks, and how he feels about his life, his sin and his relationship with God. This Psalm gets super introspective, almost metaphysical, sounding much like the words of his son, Solomon, writing Ecclesiastes. Stuff like, ”We are merely moving shadows, and all our busy rushing ends in nothing. We heap up wealth, not knowing who will spend it” (39‬:‭6‬).

David wrote this when he was younger, going through extremely difficult times while running for his life, even though God had promised that he would be the future king. In those early years he grew close to God while hiding in caves and living by faith alone. While he was processing thoughts about his own life, he gets pensive and moody.

Yet, in this Psalm, David concludes by begging God to listen and see his pain. This Psalm helps us as well. Does God hear us, does He see our pain, our tears? The answer is YES! God does hear and see us. As you read through the Psalms, it becomes clear that David discovered this many times over. Even though this Psalm was inserted towards the end of David’s life, the experiences happened at very low times early in his life. And, thankfully, God does not “leave him alone,” He continues to show up in David’s life just as God shows up in our life. I am thankful that God hears and listens to our cries. He sees us and is working on our behalf.

Prayer

​Dad,
I am so thankful for David’s honest expressions and that you let us see those experiences in Psalms. The raw, authentic words David writes is helpful when I go through difficult times as well. I am grateful that you hear me and see me, drawing close when I am afraid and bringing peace and comfort when my mind whirls and my heart wavers.

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God sees and hears you.

Reading Time: 2 minutes

“I waited patiently for the Lord to help me, and he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the pit of despair, out of the mud and the mire. He set my feet on solid ground and steadied me as I walked along. He has given me a new song to sing, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see what he has done and be amazed. They will put their trust in the Lord.” ‭‭Psalms‬ ‭40‬:‭1‬-‭3‬ ‭NLT‬‬

It is really powerful and supportive when someone not only knows you are in hard times, but reaches out with a simple text or phone call just to say they are with you. Oh, to be seen and to be heard is actually comforting. It’s mysterious and welcomed. This was a Psalm David wrote himself. We don’t know when he wrote it, but it was placed among the poetry prayers in the collection towards the end of his life.

He writes about waiting for God’s help. Waiting while in physical or mental distress is extremely exhausting. They tell us that pain causes our mind to lie to us and tell us that the present circumstances will be permanent, like there will be no end to it. We just want out of it. We want to get back to normal, back to easy, back to joys of living and loving.

This Psalm is so powerful because David most likely remembers a moment when he was just a shepherd boy, tending his family’s sheep. As a shepherd, it was common for sheep to wander into these mud holes after a rainstorm in the open pasture. These holes looked shallow, but they could be deceptively, dangerously deep. The sheep would step in and sink down, deep into a mud so thick it was like wet cement. The shepherd would hear the cries of the sheep, immobilized in the muck. These holes could also be large enough that the shepherd could not reach the sheep with the crook of his staff. The shepherd would have to climb into the hole, wading in to the depths to wrap his arms around the muddy, scared sheep. He would have to pull the sheep out slowly while the sheep struggled by kicking, even biting at the shepherd. The shepherd’s rescue meant the sheep would be saved!

David sees his own life, filled with his own deep muddy holes and rejoices that God, the great shepherd heard him, turned to him, climbed into the muck and mire, wrapped his arms around him and lifted him out – saving his life. David sees his life as a series of rescues when God continued to set him on the rock of solid ground. David, then in response, lifts his own song of praise to God, thankful that God sees, hears, turns and lifts him out to safety. This is what God does in our life. He sees, hears, turns and rescues us.

Prayer

Dad,
How many times have I found myself in a muddy hole of life? How many times did I wander off? How many times was I trapped? How many times did I feel that I could do nothing to set myself free, rescuing myself? Many times! I also waited. I also cried out. You saw me, heard me, turned to me and lifted me out of the muck! Thank you! I remember and give you praise!