Monday, May 15, 2023
God, Are You Listening?
O Lord, hear me as I pray; pay attention to my groaning. (Psalm 5:1 NLT)
David really needed to know that God was with him. After all, he was running for his life. But it wasn’t King Saul who was chasing him. Tragically, his own son Absalom was hunting him down to put him to death.
It was during this time that David called on the Lord and wrote the words of Psalm 5. Here we see a holy boldness in David’s prayer: “O Lord, hear me as I pray; pay attention to my groaning. Listen to my cry for help, my King and my God, for I pray to no one but you” (verses 1–2 NLT).
In essence David was saying, “Lord, I want You to really listen to what I am about to say.”
Where did he get the audacity to speak to God that way? David had a relationship with God. The reason he could say “Hear me,” “pay attention,” and “listen” is that he also said, “My King and my God.” He had a relationship with God that gave him freedom of access.
We, too, can have the same relationship. Romans 8:15 says, “So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, ‘Abba, Father’ ” (NLT).
The Aramaic word “Abba” is an affectionate term. The English equivalent would be “Daddy” or “Papa.” As believers, we have been brought into a relationship with God through Jesus Christ in which we can call Him Daddy. We can call Him Papa.
David’s relationship with God gave him boldness in his prayers. And we can also have that boldness. Hebrews 10:19 says, “And so, dear brothers and sisters, we can boldly enter heaven’s Most Holy Place because of the blood of Jesus” (NLT).
We can approach God at any time, but it’s not because of anything we do. Rather, it’s because of what Jesus did for us.
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