God, Which Hath Not Turned Away My Prayer
Blessed be God, which hath not turned away my prayer, Nor his mercy from me.
Psalm 66:20 (KJV)
It has been said that God does not hear any prayer from a sinner except the prayer of repentance. This would go against everything that I have come to know about our Creator. How could He not hear? If He knows when a sparrow falls to the ground, or when a deer is born in the wilderness, He hears the prayer of a “sinner”.
This argument is disingenuous to me. Many Christians I’ve known over the years still refer to themselves as “sinners”, yet they profess to be saved. These same people also claim that God hears their prayers. You can’t have it both ways, in my opinion. Either God hears every prayer, or He hears none at all.
This line from Psalm 66 was written by someone who had experienced grace long before the new birth experience was ever provided through Jesus and His death, burial, resurrection, and ascension to the right hand of the Father. The psalmist received answers to the cries made to God, and knew it was only by God’s mercy that he was still alive.
By uniting answered prayer and mercy in the same statement shows true humility. The false humility demonstrated by many professing Christians is actually rooted in pride. This psalmist realized it was God who chose to hear and chose to show mercy. I believe if more of us would approach prayer with this attitude we would see more accomplished by our prayers.
I realize in this format of brief comments on such topics which have been the subject of doctoral theses and countless volumes of books like prayer, you cannot fully cover every nuance. However, if you can get the first premise established in your mind, the rest might come a little easier. God is good, and His mercy endures forever! He will always hear our cries. Give Him a chance to hear yours. I think you’ll be surprised by the outcome. He is truly the God Which Hath Not Turned Away My Prayer. For that, I am eternally grateful
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