Exodus 2:23-25 Amplified Bible
23 Now it happened after a long time [about forty years] that the king of Egypt died. And the children of Israel (Jacob) groaned and sighed because of the bondage, and they cried out. And their cry for help because of their bondage [a]ascended to God. 24 So God heard their groaning and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Israel). 25 God saw the sons of Israel, and God took notice [of them] and was concerned about them [knowing all, understanding all, remembering all].
The Word of God for the Children of God.
Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.
The beginning of the beloved Christmas movie “It’s a Wonderful Life” depicts many people praying simultaneously, and the juxtaposition of voices — to our ears — becomes a cacophony of noise.
How exactly, we wonder, does God separate each voice to hear individual prayers? Does He answer them all? Then we wonder, “Does God hear me?”
The question posed is a perplexing one when viewed through our human lens.
How does God keep everyone’s praises and prayers straight?
How does He hear them all?
And, in a far more personal nature, how exactly do I know He hears me?
The answer, of course, is to regard who God is and how we are to “see” Him according to what Scripture teaches us.
We’ll investigate what the Bible says, and because of what His Word says, we are assured He does hear Christians’ prayers (which encompasses all of our communication with God).
We will understand God gives “ear” to our needs according to His will and according to His own timing.
Where Does the Bible Say God Hears Us?
The Bible is God-breathed, meaning He inspired the writers to impart His exact words into the canon of Scripture (2 Timothy 3:16).
When we read the Bible, we are reading God’s very words to us.
Therefore, any implication about God hearing the writers tells us He hears us.
In fact, one of His covenant names is Elohim Shama – The God who hears (Exodus 2:24; Psalm 139:1; Philippians 4:19; Hebrews 4:14-16).
Yes, He hears us.
What is Elohim Shama in Hebrew?
“Elohim Shama” is not an official name of God, it refers to the fact that God hears… He listens, He Hears.
Elohim Shama: The God who Listens, The God Who Hears
But He doesn’t merely hear our words; He is also moved by the unvoiced groanings of our hearts (Romans 8:26).
What does Shama means in the Bible?
to hear, to listen
Obedience in Hebrew is: shama (שָׁמַע). It means to hear, to listen, to give attention, to understand, to submit to, and to obey.
There is only one word in Hebrew for obedience, and it is this word – shama.
This Hebrew word is also generally translated as “hear”.
What does Jehovah Shammah mean?
“The Lord is There”
Jehovah-Shammah is found Ezekiel 48:35,
“The distance around the entire city will be 6 miles. And from that day the name of the city will be ‘The Lord is There.”
Jehovah-Shammah is the name of God that means I am the Lord who is there and is symbolic of Jerusalem. This name promises His presence.
The following short list cements the truth God hears us:
King David cried to the Lord in many psalms, and he knew God heard him.
Psalm 6:8-9 English Standard Version
8 Depart from me, all you workers of evil,
for the Lord has heard the sound of my weeping.
9 The Lord has heard my plea;
the Lord accepts my prayer.
Psalm 18:6-19 English Standard Version
6 In my distress I called upon the Lord;
to my God I cried for help.
From his temple he heard my voice,
and my cry to him reached his ears.
7 Then the earth reeled and rocked;
the foundations also of the mountains trembled
and quaked, because he was angry.
8 Smoke went up from his nostrils,[a]
and devouring fire from his mouth;
glowing coals flamed forth from him.
9 He bowed the heavens and came down;
thick darkness was under his feet.
10 He rode on a cherub and flew;
he came swiftly on the wings of the wind.
11 He made darkness his covering, his canopy around him,
thick clouds dark with water.
12 Out of the brightness before him
hailstones and coals of fire broke through his clouds.
13 The Lord also thundered in the heavens,
and the Most High uttered his voice,
hailstones and coals of fire.
14 And he sent out his arrows and scattered them;
he flashed forth lightnings and routed them.
15 Then the channels of the sea were seen,
and the foundations of the world were laid bare
at your rebuke, O Lord,
at the blast of the breath of your nostrils.
16 He sent from on high, he took me;
he drew me out of many waters.
17 He rescued me from my strong enemy
and from those who hated me,
for they were too mighty for me.
18 They confronted me in the day of my calamity,
but the Lord was my support.
19 He brought me out into a broad place;
he rescued me, because he delighted in me.
Psalm 19 English Standard Version
The Law of the Lord Is Perfect
To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.
19 The heavens declare the glory of God,
and the sky above[a] proclaims his handiwork.
2 Day to day pours out speech,
and night to night reveals knowledge.
3 There is no speech, nor are there words,
whose voice is not heard.
4 Their voice[b] goes out through all the earth,
and their words to the end of the world.
In them he has set a tent for the sun,
5 which comes out like a bridegroom leaving his chamber,
and, like a strong man, runs its course with joy.
6 Its rising is from the end of the heavens,
and its circuit to the end of them,
and there is nothing hidden from its heat.
7 The law of the Lord is perfect,[c]
reviving the soul;
the testimony of the Lord is sure,
making wise the simple;
8 the precepts of the Lord are right,
rejoicing the heart;
the commandment of the Lord is pure,
enlightening the eyes;
9 the fear of the Lord is clean,
enduring forever;
the rules[d] of the Lord are true,
and righteous altogether.
10 More to be desired are they than gold,
even much fine gold;
sweeter also than honey
and drippings of the honeycomb.
11 Moreover, by them is your servant warned;
in keeping them there is great reward.
12 Who can discern his errors?
Declare me innocent from hidden faults.
13 Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins;
let them not have dominion over me!
Then I shall be blameless,
and innocent of great transgression.
14 Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
be acceptable in your sight,
O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.
The psalmist, Asaph, wrote a definitive and uncontestable verse which tells us God hears us, “I cry aloud to God, aloud to God, and He will hear me” (Psalm 77:1).
The Lord Jesus tells us He (God) hears us, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you” (Matthew 7:7).
How Does God Hear Us?
We must remember God is wholly unlike any of His creation.
He does not “listen” as do we, for we cannot fathom all He is.
When we listen to someone, our minds are, more often than not, racing around in distraction, thinking about what’s for lunch, or how many minutes are left on my parking meter, silly things such as what some other person was thinking when they decided on a particular hair style.
We’d love it if our thoughts could be completely focused on our subject and what they are saying, but we often “aren’t there,” we miss important details.
For our mighty God, however, His listening skills are perfect.
We never need worry He is otherwise distracted, because in His infinite being, He “hears” perfectly, beyond our scope of comprehension.
God is Spirit (John 4:24); He has no physical nature that would include eyes, ears, etc.
Lest we get caught in theological details about God as Spirit, however, we need to understand how God “hears.”
Due to God’s sovereign condescension, He has graciously chosen to reveal Himself to us by speaking in ways that we can understand.
The Bible, therefore, uses anthropomorphic language to give us God’s revelation of Himself to humankind.
The immutable truth is God is incomprehensible, yet in His kindness has chosen to make Himself known in a way to which we can relate. God, in His omniscience, already knows everything, including what we will soon pray.
Because God has incommunicable attributes such as omniscience, omnipresence, omnipotence, etc., we are only able to comprehend Him via His communicable (moral) attributes and we were, created in His Image to reflect God in them, albeit not equally (only He is perfect in His moral attributes).
God “hears” us because of who He is and how He created us in His image.
Pastor and theologian R.C. Sproul adds,
“We are a composite being made up of body and spirit. We are spiritual yet finite humans; God is infinite Spirit who is not bound by a body.”
As far as God’s holy essence is completely different from His creation,
“God is not a man, that He should lie, or a son of man, that He should change his mind. Has He said, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken, and will He not fulfill it?” (Numbers 23:19).
Yet God deigns to intervene in the works of man, to vividly reveal His love of us by the Scripture that speaks truthfully of how He hears our cries (Psalm 61:1).
What if I Don’t Feel Like God Hears Me?
We cannot expect God to answer us with an audible voice from heaven or with a “sign.” What we have is the Holy Scriptures, and from the Holy Spirit working in us through them, we “receive understanding, insight, and wisdom.”
2 Peter 1:3 gives us great hope, “His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us to His own glory and excellence.”
It is through the Bible we learn about the Lord Jesus and grow in His grace and knowledge. As we read and study God’s Word, we learn how He wants us to live, and our prayers and petitions will be guided by His Spirit based on His Word.
No matter our emotional state or physical circumstances, God listens, hears our cries to Him.
It’s true God always answers our prayers.
The answer is either, “yes,” “no,” or “wait.” We are, however, a people who desire and sometimes demand immediate answers, so waiting is very hard.
But as we wait for His answers, we are to occupy ourselves with kingdom work and with careful study of the Bible.
As we take the time to learn more of God’s Word, many answers to our prayers will become apparent, will be revealed to us by Holy Spirit, and we can act in a righteous manner because of how God has revealed His will through his Word.
So then, when God graciously and mercifully answers our prayers, the solutions will come through the study of His Word and/or godly counsel, wisdom, from a more mature believer who knows Scripture and daily strives to live a holy life.
“When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears and delivers them out of all their troubles” (Psalm 34:17).
Here we need to remember deliverance may come here, or not until heaven.
We can pray with confidence because God does hear us and He will respond.
We may think He is silent, but when we remember He speaks to us every day through His Word (Psalm 19, Hebrews 4:12), we know He isn’t being silent; we’re just looking for our answers to “materialize: in all those wrong places.
We aren’t to go to the Lord with demands, for when He hears us, He’s listening to see if we are coming before Him with hearts that are being sanctified as we attempt to live holy lives.
The Bible speaks of God’s omniscience, “Who has measured the Spirit of the LORD, or what man shows Him his counsel? Whom did He consult, and who made him understand? Who taught him the path of justice, and taught Him knowledge, and showed Him the way of understanding?” (Isaiah 40:13-14).
God knows what we will ask before it is even on our hearts (Psalm 139:4), and, more importantly, He knows what we need.
“And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him” (Matthew 6:7-8).
This passage tells us what to pray for, and it precedes the Disciples’ Prayer, which teaches us how to pray (Matthew 6:9-13).
How Should I Pray?
We saw above the Lord Jesus taught His disciples (we too as Christians are His disciples) how to pray.
The Apostle John later wrote, “And this is the confidence that we have toward Him, that if we ask anything according to His will He hears us. And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of Him” (1 John 5:14-15, emphasis added).
At first glance, it appears He will give us we want, but that’s not the case.
The key phrase is, according to His will.
How do we know His will? By fearing God and keeping His commandments, which King Solomon said is the “whole duty of man” (Ecclesiastes 12:13).
We know Him by His creation (general revelation) and by His Word (special revelation).
Nicodemus, learned from Jesus the only way to know His will is to become a Christian, grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus by immersing yourself in His Word, and surrounding yourself with godly people (the church).
John 3:1-8 English Standard Version
You Must Be Born Again
3 Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 2 This man came to Jesus[a] by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.” 3 Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again[b] he cannot see the kingdom of God.” 4 Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” 5 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.[c] 7 Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You[d] must be born again.’ 8 The wind[e] blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
Once we do all of that, we will come before the Lord with right motives and petitions, with patience as He hears, answers our prayers in His perfect time.
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
Psalm 4 Complete Jewish Bible
4 (0) For the leader. With stringed instruments. A psalm of David:
2 (1) O God, my vindicator!
Answer me when I call!
When I was distressed, you set me free;
now have mercy on me, and hear my prayer.
3 (2) Men of rank, how long will you shame my honor,
love what is vain, chase after lies? (Selah)
4 (3) Understand that Adonai sets apart
the godly person for himself;
Adonai will hear when I call to him.
5 (4) You can be angry, but do not sin!
Think about this as you lie in bed,
and calm down. (Selah)
6 (5) Offer sacrifices rightly,
and put your trust in Adonai.
7 (6) Many ask, “Who can show us some good?”
Adonai, lift the light of your face over us!
8 (7) You have filled my heart with more joy
than all their grain and new wine.
9 (8) I will lie down and sleep in peace;
for, Adonai, you alone make me live securely.
Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.
Loving God, Living God, Loving Hope, Living Hope, Loving Living Life His Way! "Many things are possible for the person who has hope. Even more is possible for the person who has faith. And still more is possible for the person who knows how to love. But everything is possible for the person who practices all three virtues." - Brother Lawrence (1605-1691), Practicing the Presence of God (1692). 