God, Why Aren’t You Listening?

Psalm 55

Vs. 1 Listen to my prayer, O God,

Do not ignore my plea.

Vs. 2 hear me and answer me.

When my boys were growing up, getting them to listen seemed to occupy the greater part of my day.

“Are you listening?”

“Did you hear me?”

“How many times do I have to tell you?”

This plea to get them to listen was exhausting.

The struggle was real.

If we were to be honest, we could say the same thing about God.

“Are you listening?”

“Did you hear me?”

How many times do I have to tell (or ask) you?”

The plea to get God to listen is exhausting.

The struggle is real.

In this Psalm, David had the same struggle. He had been running from his enemy who looked to kill him. He was exhausted and wanted this chase to be over. So, he pauses to have a heart to heart with God.

Listen God. DO NOT ignore me! Hear me!

Have you ever felt like that?

Of course, you have. We all have!

Hearing this from the man who was after God’s own heart allows me permission to do the same. David was crying out to get God’s attention.

So, how do we get God’s attention?

There are times in each of our lives when we have felt disconnected from God. Many things can cause this disconnection…unconfessed sin, filling our lives with the chaos of life, forgetting to put God first. But the hardest moments are those when we want to connect, and we feel as though we only receive silence.

We have been taught that God always listens, He is always present. This teaching is truth down to the core. But in times of desperation, times of heartache and even in times of neutrality, we question that truth.

God, please listen!

God, don’t ignore!

David’s desire for God to hear him became his driving force. David pushed his way into God’s space demanding God to listen, pleading with God not to ignore.

In our moments of receiving silence from God, seeing no movement or change in our situation, not feeling peace in our souls pushing us to feel lost amongst our Savior, this becomes our prayer…” God, please listen! God do not ignore!”

In the times when we don’t feel like praying, those are the times when we need to pray the most.

In our despair, we need to dig down deep to find a driving force for connection with God.

We need to pause in our quiet, scream loud in the silence, pray in passing and pray in the deliberate. We are to never give up trusting that in these moments when we feel silence from God that this is what drives us to pursue Him.

Set aside time every single day to sit in this silence because there will be a day when the feeling of God’s absence will become the feeling of God’s presence. If you walk away from this silence, you may miss what He wants to say.

Vs. 17 As for me, I call to God and the Lord saves me. Evening, morning, and noon I cry out in distress, and He hears my voice.

Vs. 22 Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you;

He will never let the righteous be shaken.”

Vs.23 But as for me, I trust in you.