Are You Even Listening?
July 28
I remembered God, and was troubled, I complained, and my spirit was overwhelmed.
Psalm 77:3
"Quarreling with God is a time-honored biblical prat ice: Moses, Job, David and St. Peter were all masters at it."
Eugene H. Peterson
Boo Thought: My earthly father and his father, both began loosing their hearing earlier than most people. I can remember my mother contemplating at times if my father really couldn't hear her or just didn't want to.
Psalm 77 rings of the frustrations we sometimes encounter when God makes us wait to have our cries answered.
Hmm, I remember those painful times with newborns when you had to let them cry themselves to sleep. I think my pediatrician told me to give our daughter ten minutes...it seemed like ten hours as my husband sat with me watching the clock and probably holding me back from going in that room. Our lives were going to be much better if our child learned to be at peace and accept the routine of nap time and bedtime when we placed her in her bed.
God hears our cries, He just has something to teach us in the wait.
Psalms Now 77
I cry to God in my desperation. Out of the dark corner of my stifling loneliness,
I grope in vain for some solace or comfort.
I try to think about God, to contemplate His many promises, but my heart is empty, my soul as dry as dust. I spend sleepless nights searching, waiting for God to speak to my need, to give me strength in my conflict. I remember how He has responded to my prayers in times past, but I get nothing from Him now-nothing except the echoes of my own agonized screams to the empty heavens.
I am reminded of His deeds and wonders of years past, how He demonstrated His love and concern for His people. His majesty and power are reflected in the great forces of nature.
Then why doesn't He hear my pitiful pleadings? Why doesn't He fulfill His promises to me?
Good Lord, where are You?
Let's Pray: Father, Your ears are never clogged. You don't have a hearing aide that you turn off. Help us to consider, when You don't answer our call, that You might be trying to teach us something in the wait and maybe we are the ones not listening. Ha, I am thinking of those "trick" tests teachers give students to see if they are listening to directions. The first thing the teacher says is to read all the questions first. If a student does this, the last question tells them they don't have to do the test. The majority of students want to get the test over with and don't follow the directions, but plow through answering the questions. Could it be Lord, You aren't answering our cries at times because we haven't been following Your previous instructions?
Take us back today, back to Your ways. We are listening. In Jesus Name, Amen
I remembered God, and was troubled, I complained, and my spirit was overwhelmed.
Psalm 77:3
"Quarreling with God is a time-honored biblical prat ice: Moses, Job, David and St. Peter were all masters at it."
Eugene H. Peterson
Boo Thought: My earthly father and his father, both began loosing their hearing earlier than most people. I can remember my mother contemplating at times if my father really couldn't hear her or just didn't want to.
Psalm 77 rings of the frustrations we sometimes encounter when God makes us wait to have our cries answered.
Hmm, I remember those painful times with newborns when you had to let them cry themselves to sleep. I think my pediatrician told me to give our daughter ten minutes...it seemed like ten hours as my husband sat with me watching the clock and probably holding me back from going in that room. Our lives were going to be much better if our child learned to be at peace and accept the routine of nap time and bedtime when we placed her in her bed.
God hears our cries, He just has something to teach us in the wait.
Psalms Now 77
I cry to God in my desperation. Out of the dark corner of my stifling loneliness,
I grope in vain for some solace or comfort.
I try to think about God, to contemplate His many promises, but my heart is empty, my soul as dry as dust. I spend sleepless nights searching, waiting for God to speak to my need, to give me strength in my conflict. I remember how He has responded to my prayers in times past, but I get nothing from Him now-nothing except the echoes of my own agonized screams to the empty heavens.
I am reminded of His deeds and wonders of years past, how He demonstrated His love and concern for His people. His majesty and power are reflected in the great forces of nature.
Then why doesn't He hear my pitiful pleadings? Why doesn't He fulfill His promises to me?
Good Lord, where are You?
Let's Pray: Father, Your ears are never clogged. You don't have a hearing aide that you turn off. Help us to consider, when You don't answer our call, that You might be trying to teach us something in the wait and maybe we are the ones not listening. Ha, I am thinking of those "trick" tests teachers give students to see if they are listening to directions. The first thing the teacher says is to read all the questions first. If a student does this, the last question tells them they don't have to do the test. The majority of students want to get the test over with and don't follow the directions, but plow through answering the questions. Could it be Lord, You aren't answering our cries at times because we haven't been following Your previous instructions?
Take us back today, back to Your ways. We are listening. In Jesus Name, Amen
