When Does God Hear Me When I Pray?

I decided to use the Book of Psalms as a devotional focus to start out 2007. Each chapter seems to provide a particular insight for me. Today for example, I saw the statement in Psalm 4:3 that “the Lord hears when I call to Him.” But the truth of the matter is that sometimes I call on God and it seems that He is not listening.

Further research of the scriptures led me to a passage in Isaiah 59:2 which indicates that we can cause God not to hear us: “But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, And your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear.”

So, the problem is me again. I’ve made choices that have separated me from God. On more than one occasion I have found that my failure to forgive someone who has wronged me or someone close to me has resulted in my loss of fellowship with my Heavenly Father. No matter how I rationalize why it is okay to continue to hold a grudge, this failure to forgive results in my loss of the ear of God.

The verse for me that seems to summarize what I have to do to regain God’s ear is 2 Chronicles 7:14: “and My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”
- Step 1 – Humble myself. Deal with the issues at hand in the way God wants.
- Step 2 – Pray. Agree with God about my sins.
- Step 3 – Seek God’s face. This can reverse the process described in Isaiah 59:2.
- Step 4 – Turn from my wicked ways.

I then can claim the promise of Jeremiah 33:3 we read: “call to Me and I will answer you, and I will tell you great and mighty things, which you do not know.”

God hears my prayers when my relationship with Him is as He intended it to be. It is only then that I can learn what He wishes to share with me.