#DailyDevotion God Hears Our Prayers & Answers Our Complaints
Psalm 64 7God will shoot them with an arrow, striking them down suddenly. 8Their own tongues ruin them. All who see them shake their heads. 9Everybody will be afraid and declare, “God did that,” and will learn a lesson from what He did.
We see here God did hear David’s complaint. One may wonder if everybody became afraid and declared, “God did that,” and then learned a lesson from that. I look further in time and see Jesus praying this prayer against His enemies who sought His death and would ultimately accomplish it, only though by His own will allowing it. We know some of the Pharisees, Scribes and even Priest repented of their wicked plans when they heard the good news of Jesus’ resurrection from the dead and His ascension to the right hand of the father. They apparently did learn their lesson and received their judgment in baptism. We also know many also did not repent, did not believe though they knew the truth, who indeed were children of the devil as Jesus declared. God the Father did shoot these people down with the arrow of the Romans in the first revolt and then their unbelieving children in the second revolt. They loved this world and its power more than their Creator and Savior, much as David’s enemies among his own people did.
We as Christians can look at the destruction of the Temple and Jerusalem, learn the lesson and say, “God did that.” Even the unbelieving Jews who claim they believe in God must admit, God punished the Jewish nation in that action though they don’t understand what their sin behind it was. But do we fare any better when the countries, counties and cities we live experience tragedy and we do not repent of our sins and call our fellow citizens to repent? We truly can never claim innocence. But for us as Christians it isn’t because of our lack of faith in Christ rather our sinful flesh doing what sinful flesh does. So we repent because of our sinful nature and on behalf of our unbelieving neighbor, praying for God’s mercy upon us all. At least the unbelieving insurance companies make a good confession—these are acts of God.
10The righteous are delighted in the LORD and find shelter in Him, and all whose heart is right will feel happy.
Who are the righteous but those who put their faith in Jesus Christ. They find shelter in Him alone and in no one and nothing else. The LORD is our delight even when we see Him rain punishment down upon us and the world around us. We know He is calling us to repentance and providing an opportunity for us to repent and turn to Him for mercy, kindness, steadfast love and forgiveness. Some days and sometimes it certainly easier to delight in Him than others. Ultimately, we will see the LORD Jesus Christ has answered our prayers. The Father heard Christ Jesus’ intercessions in His right ear for us and we will see our enemies cast into the Lake of Fire, never to trouble us again as we inherit the New Heavens and New Earth, as we enter the New Jerusalem to be with the Father and the Lamb forever.
Our heart is right when we trust Jesus to be our salvation, to be the answer to all our prayers. If Jesus isn’t the answer to all your prayers, maybe you need to edit your prayers. Thanks be to God the Holy Spirit prays for us the prayers we ought to be praying. Jesus is the answer to His intercessions for us and we will praise, exalt, rejoice and be happy in Him. If we are going to be that way then, we might as well respond to our troubles that way today in faith.
Heavenly Father, we know and believe you hear and answer our prayers in the manner, way, amount, time and the like which is best. Keep us faithful unto the end that we may truly praise You in Your great wisdom when we see the answer to our prayers and give us thankful hearts now trusting in Your goodness as our Father. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.