“The LORD is good to those whose hope is in Him, to the one who seeks Him.” Lamentations 3:25 NIV
God hears the heartfelt prayers of those who have chosen to believe in Christ. He is faithful and listens to His children when we are burdened by the pains and sufferings of this world. Every prayer that is sent to the Heavenly realms through our cries, mourns and tears, the Lord sees and hears. Every tear is bottled (Psalm 56:8), and the Lord remembers the prayers that come from the depths of our souls.
When we have been depleted and exhausted of all natural ability. When tiredness and weariness override our vessels; when our hearts have digressed to the pits of despair, and our minds have been tortured with devastating affliction; GOD IS NEAR. He will not let us slip into the clutches of the enemy. He will not stand idly by while broken homes, financial distress, lost loved ones, confusion and fear take hold. No. Our God is a mighty God. He is the One Who knows all and sees all. “Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint” (Isaiah 40:31). Though “Weeping may tarry for the night…joy comes with the morning” (Psalm 30:5 ESV).
God knows our struggles and pains, and He wants to bring comfort to us. This world is brutal, and the damaging effects it can have on one’s mind, heart and body can be damning, if we allow them to linger. Our hearts must not rest on what is seen in the natural, but trust in the supernatural. As believers in Christ, we must seek to have the eyes of Christ and to allow His perfect peace to fall upon us.
Though I have lost friends and loved ones to cancer and suicide; though I have had my dreams crushed and self confidence depleted; though I have had financial trouble and have been marginalized; though I had for a season been bound hand and foot to a lifestyle of sin, one thing remained: GOD CAME and HE SAW ME THROUGH. He vanquished the sin in my life, He gave me peace where there was no peace, He provided joy in the midst of despair and He loved me when I was lower than the dust of the ground. He awakened something within me and transitioned my heart and directed my mind towards Someone I am now willing to live and die for! His name is the Lord Jesus Christ.
He can do the same for you if you will let Him. Cry out to Him. Believe that God sent His One and only Son into this world to die upon the Cross for the sins of those who would believe in Him and repent. Let us all come to believe that God listens to His children’s desperate prayer! The Devil will do all he can to whisper that the Lord does not hear us and that He does not care; but I have a fire inside my soul that says “greater is He that is in you, than He that is in the world” (1 John 4:4 KJV). When the Holy Spirit resides in our vessels, we can rest assured that God will provide. Whether we need comfort, peace or a miracle, the Lord will be faithful if we have “faith as small as a mustard seed” (Matthew 17:20).
The question now lies for the believer: What will we do? Will we believe the lie of the Devil? Or, will we lean upon Christ and fully depend upon Him? The choice is up to us. May our hearts not linger on tragedy and devastation, but “May the God of hope fill (us) with all joy and peace as (we) trust in Him, so that (we) may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit” (Romans 15:13 NIV).
Lance VanTine