How do I know God is listening?
How many of you have unread emails? Stats show that the average number of unread emails is 1,602 and average number of unread text messages is 47. You’re probably checking your phone right now to see how many emails you have unread.
The little red number floating on the top right of your app might overwhelm you but it’s also an indication of something you simply didn’t pay attention to. Don’t worry, I’m the same way.
A temptation in prayer is thinking that the notification number for God keeps piling up and our requests are left unread and unanswered.
“Prayer is both a conversation and an encounter with God.” - Tim Keller
You’ve probably heard this before, that prayer is a conversation.
How do conversations work? One person is doing the talking, the other is doing the listening, then you flip it. We’ve all have probably been in conversations before where you have felt like you’re the only one involved in the conversation. The other person you’re speaking to isn’t really paying attention or focused on the conversation. Their minds are distracted. They haven’t really heard what you are saying. In order for conversations to be fruitful it requires BOTH parties to talk and listen.
Have you ever prayed for something and didn’t get it? Does this mean that God isn’t listening? In those moments it can feel like God is either ignoring you or not listening to you. What do we do when we feel like God isn’t listening when we pray? How do we know God is listening?
We can know God is listening because His Word tells us.
Check out what the Bible says:
Psalm 18:6 - “I called to the Lord in my distress, and I cried to my God for help. From his temple he heard my voice, and my cry to him reached his ears.”
Psalm 34:17 - “The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears.”
Psalm 66:19 - “However, God has listened; he has paid attention to the sound of my prayer.”
Proverbs 15:29 - “The Lord is far from the wicked, but he hears the prayer of the righteous.”
1 John 5:14 - “This is the confidence we have before him: If we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.”
One thing we can be sure of, according to the promise of His Word, is that God hears His people.
2. We can know God is listening because He is our Father who cares.
Read this:
“Therefore I tell you: Don’t worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Isn’t life more than food and the body more than clothing? Consider the birds of the sky: They don’t sow or reap or gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren’t you worth more than they? Can any of you add one moment to his life span by worrying? And why do you worry about clothes? Observe how the wildflowers of the field grow: They don’t labor or spin thread. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was adorned like one of these. If that’s how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and thrown into the furnace tomorrow, won’t he do much more for you — you of little faith? So don’t worry, saying, ‘What will we eat? ’ or ‘What will we drink? ’ or ‘What will we wear?’ For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you. Therefore don’t worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” - Matthew 6:25-34
Because of your faith in Jesus, you have a Father who loves you, cares for you, and listens to you. Oftentimes we allow the temptations of the world, and the things we lack, to make us feel like God isn’t listening.
Try this out: Log the little things.
At the end of each day take 10-15 minutes each day to grab a journal and reflect on the small ways that God has provided for you.
Maybe there is something BIG you’re praying for, keep praying for that. What can happen is when we only focus on the moments where God hasn’t shown up, we miss out on the ways God has already shown up in our lives. In those little ways, God is reminding us that He’s listening and providing what we need because he cares for you.
One of my favorite things about the Psalms is how the writers, mostly David, are real with God. He’s not afraid to express his genuine emotion towards God, and God’s willing to receive it.
In Psalm 42, the psalmist admits to God feeling distant, in other words as if God wasn’t listening. Two verses stuck out to me from Psalm 42:
Psalm 42:5 - “I will still praise Him.”
Psalm 42:11 - “I will still praise Him.”
If you’re in a season where God feels silent, or as if He’s not listening, be real with Him but also praise Him anyway because He’s already given us the greatest gift, Jesus.
