Does God Still Listen? The Answer Hidden in Your Past

Psalm 61: 1-3 – “Hear my cry, O God, listen to my prayer; from the end of the earth I call to you when my heart is faint. Lead me to the rock that is higher than I, for you have been my refuge, a strong tower against the enemy.

For being such a great man of God isn’t it amazing how much trouble David found himself in? So many of David’s prayers are cries for help. There’s encouragement in that realization for me. Many of my prayers are cries for help also, and I think if you are honest, you will admit that the same is true for you.

Why does God keep listening to us? Have you ever wondered that? With all the asking that David did, how does he know that God will keep listening? The answer is found in these verses.

David bases his expectations of God’s answers on all that God has done for him in the past. David makes his desperate requests of God and then says, ‘for you have been my refuge…my strong tower against the enemy.’

The little word ‘for’ means because. In other words Davd is saying “I am asking you to do this new thing for me BECAUSE of what you’ve done for me in the past.” David is basing his confidence and trust in God to help him with these new problems because of God’s consistent faithfulness to help, comfort, and protect him in the past.

All of us have problems, troubles and concerns. That’s just life. But one of the reasons troubles are allowed to come to us is so that God can reveal His nature to us in answer to our prayers. God is all about building faith in us, and one of the ways He does that is allowing us to face difficulties then reminding us of how He has been faithful to us or to people like David in the past. His desire is that we are prompted to trust Him enough to ask for His help.

God is not put out with us when we cry to Him for help. He actually loves it. He has even commanded us to ask Him for help. In Philippians 4: 6 Paul says to us, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”

Are you facing trials and difficulties, then ask God for help, but do it in faith by taking the time to remind yourself of how God has been faithful in the past. God’s ultimate goal is not simply to give you the solution to your problems, it is to reveal His steadfast love and faithfulness in ways that will draw us even closer to Him.