Christian, I Hear You

A few days ago an old friend shared with me what he had been reading from Psalm 143. Two days later as I was encouraging another friend, I turned to the words that had been shared with me, and again the power of Scripture was seen. Moved by this result, I decided to spend time every morning for a week focusing on this passage.

That Psalm opens with this verse:

O LORD, hear my prayer,
       listen to my cry for mercy;
       in your faithfulness and righteousness
       come to my relief.

What we find here is a man like ourselves—a man in some distress, a man who doesn’t have it all figured out, a man aware of his need to pray and unashamedly to cry out for mercy. But this man, David, is one who has taught me so much about the power of a mind change. In his crying out, did you notice what he does? He declares God’s faithfulness and righteousness.

Focusing on those words, I found myself hearing God on the other end of a prayer like this. I say, “Lord, hear my prayer.”  His response is, “Tom, I hear your prayer.”  I say, “Listen to my cry for mercy,” and I hear him say, “Tom, I am listening with compassion to your cry for mercy.”  I say, “In your faithfulness and righteousness come to my relief,” and I hear him say, “Tom, in my faithfulness and righteousness you can count on me coming to your relief.”

As you pray, think of God’s faithfulness and righteousness, and I expect you too will hear his voice.


Focus Scripture
Psalm 143