Psalm 116:2

Psalm 116:2

I will call on Him

I guess we often take it for granted that the Lord God hears us when we pray to Him! Prayer can become a habit, and a very good one at that, at least a daily exercise when we bring our requests and our concerns to the throne of our God. (By the way, have you noticed how the prayers of the Psalms are very much a mixture of praise, thanksgiving and of requests.) There needs to be a balance. To get back to the point, whether you are an occasional pray-er or one who talks incessantly to the Lord, we all have an expectation that we are heard – that He “turns His ear towards us.” I’m not in a position to judge, but I wonder if there is a different response in heaven to the endless, monotonous, monologues of some and the heartfelt cries of others? In other words, if we want the Lord God to listen, we need to be passionate ourselves about the things we bring to Him. Our prayers are described as incense in the Scriptures, they arise as a sweet-smelling aroma that catches God’s attention and causes Him to respond with righteousness and justice, because of His love and faithfulness.

The psalmist had his own sense of “being heard” and thus he proclaims that he will never stop crying to the Lord for mercy, “I will call on Him as long as I live.” For someone who had been saved from almost certain death, this was a heartfelt promise. It is amazing how certain events in our lives, sometimes calamitous ones, refocus our priorities and we realise that there has to be a change of heart and a change of direction. It is because we have become more aware of our weakness, our vulnerabilities and our dependency. Notice that the expression, “to call on the Lord” is repeated four times in the Psalm. (See also verses 4, 13 and 17.) May any major event in our lives prompt us to be far more willing and regular and heartfelt in our “calling on Him.”

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