Can You Hear Me Now? - April 2010

“Give ear to my words, O, Lord, consider my meditation.  Give heed to the voice of my cry” (Psalm 5:1).

 My home office is on the second floor.  It is where I retreat when I rise early in the morning to have my quiet time with God.  It is where I write most of my Bible studies, sermons, and other articles.

 Occasionally, when I am in the office, the telephone will ring down stairs and I will pick up the extension.  If it is for my wife, I merely call to her.  If she is out of calling distance, I shout a little louder.  If she still doesn’t hear me, I will holler louder for her attention.

 David’s prayer in Psalm 5 spans the range of internal meditation to all-out hollering.  This meditation is more than pondering about prayer to God.  It is a deep sighing and intense burning inside an anguished soul.  One might moan faint incoherent words or express no verbal sound like Hannah when she was praying for a son. “Now Hannah spoke in her heart; only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard” (1 Samuel 1:13).

 A cried prayer is an eruption of the soul spilling verbal utterances to God.  Cried prayers can range from outbreaks of joy and glee, to deep sorrow, to petitions of urgency.

 We know from reading Psalms 3 and 4 that David’s life was in peril.  What started out as a silent whisper escalated to an intense and loud prayer.  Then, David found comfort with other believers in the house of prayer.  “But as for me, I will come into your house in the multitude of your mercy; in the fear of You I will worship toward Your holy temple” (v7).  David’s faith remained firm, though it may have appeared to others that God was stone deaf to his plight.  David found countless mercies in God’s presence. His prayer was answered.

 Oh, I’ve resolved that telephone issue when my wife can’t hear my calls from the second floor.  I simply get up and go to her.  I come into her presence.

Pastor Larry