“I call on you, my God, for you will answer me;
turn your ear to me and hear my prayer”
Psalm 17:6
David was a shepherd lad who became King of Israel. When he became king, he ruled righteously in accordance with God’s WILL; Israel enjoyed the golden years of their history during David’s reign. Yet, as a man, David sinned. However, as a sinner, he was aware of his need for God’s forgiveness. He courageously accepted God’s punishment; as one who suffered the consequence of sinning against God, he also took the challenge of rebuilding his life for God. David prayed.
God taught David that he worships
a God who answers prayer.
When we consider all the power that is available to us today – for example, flip a switch and the light will come on – there is none that is as powerful as prayer. The unfortunate aspect of it is that so few of us know how to use it. Electricity was there for discovery in the days of Abraham, but he and the people of that time missed out on the use of it because they did not know how to harness it.
What was the essential aspect of effective prayer that David, no doubt, learned during his life? He alludes to it when he says, “If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened.”(Psalm 66:18). He learned that a surrendered will was the secret that opened the door of access to the heavenly Father. Unless we are willing to surrender our will to the WILL of God, there will be no answer to prayer.
The best part of prayer is the new sense of God that comes to those whose prayers are answered. Not every prayer is answered in the way that we thought it would be or in the way we wanted it to be; but when we realize that our prayer was answered in God’s way, in accordance with His WILL, we cannot help but rejoice and be glad because of our new sense of awareness of who God is.
He is a God who listens to our petitions and
takes notice of our praise.
David had cried out to God with his mouth; he had praised God with his tongue; God heard his plea; God took notice of his praise, and the result was that God blessed him with peace of mind and heart.
You and I shall know the peace of God when we cry out to Him in prayer and offer words of praise to Him with our lips. Afterwards, we shall realize that God has answered our prayers in His way, according to His WILL; and that realization will cause us to exclaim: