God, Can You Hear Me? (Andy Robison)
God, Can You Hear Me?
One Bible verse of utmost pathos is Psalm 42:3:
My tears have been my food day and night,
While they continually say to me,
“Where is your God?”
The godliest of individuals can sometimes feel very, very far from God, even with God’s assurances of answered prayer (cf. Luke 18:1-8). Consider Psalm 6:6-7:
I am weary with my groaning;
All night I make my bed swim;
I drench my couch with tears.
My eye wastes away because of grief;
It grows old because of my enemies.
Enemies in the forms of illness and/or persecution often cause even people of faith to doubt their position with God. “God, Can You Hear Me?”
Christians are not left alone without an Advocate to understand their perceived distance. Jesus, “in the days of His flesh,” “offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears...” (Hebrews 5:7). It may be that the famed prayer, “Let this cup pass from Me...,” was offered in a loud, impassioned wailing! The same verse reminds that Jesus “was heard because of His godly fear” and that the listener, God the Father, was “able to save Him from death”. God listened while Jesus felt alone, but God chose to answer differently than Jesus wanted, and permit the progression of the Passion.
Through that very experience from which Jesus sought reprieve, the pathway to God for us was paved. Jesus entered behind the veil for us (Hebrews 6:19-20), that is, He entered spiritually into God’s presence (the imagery of the Old Testament veil to the Holy of Holies is here employed). Therefore, we have “boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is His flesh...” (Hebrews 10:19-20).
From earth’s shadowy vale of tears Christians can climb the mountain (compare Mount Zion, the heavenly Jerusalem, the church—Hebrews 12:22-24) of God’s presence and be assured their pleas will be heard. As with Christ, then, if the Divine answer is different from our desire, one can be assured the purpose is much greater.
We have the privilege of praying in Jesus’ name (John 15:16) and aiming to ask for those things in accordance with His will (1 John 5:14-15). When our wills seem to be at odds, we can then, and must then, aim to conform our wills to His as a part of being molded in His image (Rom. 8:29). Then we learn to ask for the right sorts of things. Many who offer prayer are disappointed because they “ask amiss, that (they) may spend it on (their) pleasures” (James 4:3).
Limiting ourselves to requests inclusive of God’s revealed will (such as for wisdom—James 1:5) then brings the greatest freedom. No matter the circumstances on earth, whether politicians in palaces or a prisoners in cells, access is afforded to the very throne of Almighty God, through the One who offered His flesh and blood to make Himself qualified to be an intercessor (Heb. 7:25; 1 Tim. 2:5).
Yes, God can hear me. Further, in His time and in His way, He will heal and hold me. Like Elijah after His Mt. Carmel victory and his subsequent deep depression, God will push me on to greater service (1 Kings 18-19).
David worked through His perceived separation anxiety:
Why are you cast down, O my soul?
And why are you disquieted within me?
Hope in God;
For I shall yet praise Him,
The help of my countenance and my God (Psalm 42:11).
