He Sees, He Hear (episode 39)

0:00 Today, we will discover that God promises that He's watching and listening. Do you love a prodigal? Do you feel like you're lost in a scary and endless wilderness? Welcome to the When You Love a Prodigal podcast. I am Judy Douglass, and I spent more than 15 years in that wilderness. I believe together we will discover help and hope for your journey. Last week we discovered that every name of God is a promise, that He will always be true to the many names He has.

0:43 This week we explore two promises He has made to us. He sees, He hears. Invisible. I almost didn't see her pressing tightly to the road sign, practically invisible. She was clearly homeless, preferring to hide, but needing to be seen with her cardboard sign, Homeless Please Help. God has given me many opportunities to interact with homeless people. Do you know what the most consistent word they use to describe how they feel? Invisible. People turn their head, move to the side, or even cross the street to avoid them.

1:29 Anything but seeing them, looking into their eyes, and speaking to them. Is that how you feel sometimes? Or even often? Invisible? Unknown? Unnoticed? At work, or at school, or in your church, or in your neighborhood, or even with your family. I am so grateful that our God has names that assure us that we are not invisible to Him. He sees and He hears. He sees what is happening with our prodigals and with us, and He hears their cries and our prayers.

2:15 Be encouraged with these reminders of His attention to our needs and that God sees and hears. Sometimes we wonder where God is. Is He off taking care of wars in the Middle East, or earthquakes in Haiti, or droughts in Africa, or floods in Asia? Is He attending to great political events, or healing the multitudes with cancer, or caring for all of those with COVID? Where is God? Does He even see me, or this prodigal that I love and pray for? That's how Hager must have felt.

2:57 We read about her in the book of Genesis. A slave to Baron Sarai, now pregnant with Abram's child, she is resented and abused by Sarai. So Hager flees to the desert. There an angel of the Lord greets her and says, go back, go back to your mistress. Be assured that you will have a son who will be the father of multitudes. Hager responds, you are the God who sees me. I have now seen El-Roy, the one who sees me.

3:43 That same God, though He shoulders all the cares of the world, cares for us and for those we love. He is El-Roy, the God who sees. He sees our hearts for our prodigals, the pain that they cause us, the despair that overwhelms us, and the fear that grips us. And He sees our loved ones. He knows where they are, what they are doing, even though we may not. But He also knows the pain they're feeling, the torture of addiction, the fears that pursue them. And He also sees the future He has for them.

4:24 They run and hide, but God knows exactly where to find them and how to woo them home to Himself and to you who love Him. Though they are out of our sight, they are never out of God's sight. But He doesn't just see our God, He also hears. We pray and pray and pray. Our willingness to pray assumes that someone is listening. But sometimes we wonder. Our prayers seem to hit the ceiling or disappear into the clouds.

5:07 We beg, beseech, cajole, bargain, and yet too often we feel like we have not been heard. No one is listening. We don't see the answers we desire. But our God is a God who hears us. We learn of Shammah in the Psalms. Psalm 34, the righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them. He delivers them from all their troubles. We can be assured that our God is not deaf or distracted or indifferent.

5:50 As we cry out to God for our loved ones, He is Shammah, and He hears. But there's more. In the New Testament, we also learn that He hears. Our God is called Akuo. I don't know a lot of Greek, you know. Akuo. He is alert, tuned in to us. He is listening, but He's also hearing. Sometimes we listen, but it goes right in and out. God, no. He's listening and hearing. And in 1 John, we get this assurance. This is the competence we have in approaching God, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us, and if we know that He hears us whatever we ask, we know that we have what we have asked of Him.

6:44 This is present tense. Literally, it means that God is hearing us. He is always in the midst of hearing our prayers. And if you're like me, those prayers are frequent and often, and just over and over sometimes. And God is listening. He's part of it. He's hearing what I am asking. It's a promise. Is it God's desire for those prodigals to come to Him? Oh yes, we know it is. So we can come to Him with confidence that He hears our petitions, our cries for something that He really wants to have happen.

7:24 He longs for fellowship with those dear ones more than we do. And He is, in His perfect ways and times, lovingly drawing them to Himself. We are so blessed. Our God sees us and our loved ones. He sees it all. He listens for our voices. We can be assured that His eyes are on us and His ears are listening. That is a promise. Now think for a minute. When have you experienced that God sees and hears?

8:08 When have you had the sense that, okay, God's there. He's with me. He sees what's happening. He knows the terrible things my prodigal did. He knows how inadequate I feel. He sees it and He hears my cries. When have you experienced that? Is when we are at the point where we feel invisible and we feel that we're not being heard. It's good to remember when we have been assured that we are visible to God and He's hearing us. And when you are praying, how does the promise that God is paying full attention to you help you?

8:52 Think about that. God bless you. Thank you for joining me today on the When You Love a Prodigal podcast. If you enjoyed today's episode, please subscribe, rate, and review the show on Apple podcasts or wherever you listen. Your review helps the show reach more people with the hope and encouragement of Jesus. Don't forget, take a look at the show notes. And for more helpful information, resources, and books, check out judydouglass.com. That's Douglass with two S's. You can find me on Facebook and on Twitter and Instagram at JudyDouglass417.

9:38 Until next week.