God Isn’t Just Listening When You Pray… He Hears This Too

TODAY'S TEACHING

Those who feared the Lord talked often one to another; and the Lord listened and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before Him of those who referenced and worshipfully fear the Lord and who thought on His Name.

—Malachi 3:16

I've noticed something about the way we talk to God compared with the way we sometimes talk about Him.

We can spend twenty minutes praying, thanking Him for His goodness and telling Him how much we trust Him, then get into a conversation with somebody an hour later and speak as though God hasn't done anything for us in years.

I've caught myself being more interested in discussing what's going wrong than remembering what's gone right.

And when something has been bothering us for a while, the complaining can become such a regular part of our conversation that we hardly notice it anymore.

God Hears More Than Our Prayers

Today's scripture in Malachi has made me think more carefully about all of this.

I love that it says God was paying attention to a conversation between His people. They were speaking with one another, and God was listening.

The verse doesn't give us a word-for-word account of what they said, although it tells us they feared God and thought upon His Name. Whatever was being discussed mattered enough that Scripture describes a book of remembrance being written before Him.

I've wondered about that.

There are thousands of conversations happening among Christians every day. We talk about our b, problems at work, things we're praying about, people who have disappointed us, and whatever happened at church last time we were there.

God knows what we're saying. Even when we're talking to somebody else.

Now, read a few verses earlier in Malachi and you'll find something rather uncomfortable. God says in Malachi 3:13, "Your words have been stout against me, saith the LORD." Some of the people had been speaking harshly about God, questioning what benefit there was in serving Him.

They were frustrated with what they saw happening around them.

In the same chapter, we find another group of people whose conversations God specifically remembers. That contrast is worth sitting with. Because we can get into the habit of talking about God almost entirely in terms of what we think He should have done by now.

Why hasn't He answered?

Why did He allow that?

Why does somebody else seem to be doing so much better?

Those can be sincere questions, and the Bible certainly doesn't teach us to hide our troubles from God. Read the Psalms and you'll find plenty of people pouring out their disappointment, confusion, and even anger before Him.

But there's a difference between bringing our pain to God and developing an attitude where we continually speak about Him as though He's been unfair to us.

I've been thinking about that distinction. Especially when life isn't going particularly well.

Praising God When You Have Every Reason To Complain

There's another passage that interests me because it describes people praising God while somebody else was listening.

In Acts 16, Paul and Silas were thrown into prison after being beaten. They hadn't been causing trouble for the sake of it. They had been serving God, and now they were sitting in the inner prison with their feet fastened in stocks.

I imagine that would have been a fairly miserable place to spend the night.

Acts 16:25 says, "And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them."

That last part catches my attention. The prisoners heard them.

Paul and Silas had plenty to complain about, and I wouldn't have blamed them for talking about how unfairly they'd been treated. Their backs had been beaten, they were locked up, and nobody had told them when they would be released.

Yet somewhere around midnight, the other prisoners heard these two men praying and praising God.

Imagine being in one of the nearby cells. You hear men who have just been beaten singing praises to God, and you probably wonder what on earth they know that you don't.

The earthquake and the remarkable events that followed are important parts of the story, of course. But I've often thought about those few minutes before anything changed.

The prisoners were listening. And I wonder what people hear when they listen to us talk about God.

Let's say somebody has known you for years. They've listened to you during wonderful seasons and difficult ones. They've heard you talk about answered prayers, but they've also been there when you were disappointed and didn't understand what God was doing.

What kind of picture of God have your conversations given them? That's a question worth asking without immediately rushing to give ourselves a flattering answer.

What If You Overheard Your Children Talking About You?

Think about how much it means to parents when their children speak well of them. I'm not talking about children rehearsing compliments because they want money or permission to stay out later. I mean a genuine conversation where one child tells another something good about their parents, completely unaware that Mom or Dad can hear.

That would mean something.

As parents, we already know our children won't like every decision we make. Sometimes they'll be annoyed with us, sometimes they'll think we're being unreasonable, and there may be occasions when they have a legitimate complaint.

Having children doesn't make us perfect. But imagine hearing your children speak as though you've never done anything worthwhile for them, after years of loving them and doing your best to provide for them. That would hurt.

Then imagine overhearing them talk with genuine appreciation about something you've done. You'd remember that conversation.

Malachi's book of remembrance makes me think about the fact that God notices what comes out of our hearts when we're speaking about Him (even when we're not praying).

There's something personal about that. And I think we should take it seriously.

We don't have to manufacture compliments for God. He already knows whether we mean what we're saying, so trying to sound impressive would be a rather pointless exercise.

I'm talking about recognizing His goodness in the middle of regular life and allowing some of that appreciation to find its way into our conversations.

Maybe somebody asks how you're doing and you tell them about a difficult week. That's fine. But perhaps there's also something worth mentioning about how God helped you through it.

Perhaps you had a conversation with someone who was discouraged, and instead of joining in with twenty minutes of complaints, you remembered something God had done that might encourage them.

There are days when the most meaningful testimony we can give isn't particularly dramatic.

"God has been patient with me."

"I was worried about that situation, but I'm grateful He helped me handle it."

"I still don't know what will happen, although I have a lot to thank Him for."

Simple things. Things we actually mean.

Are We Remembering God's Goodness Or Just Our Problems?

And here's another thought that has bothered me occasionally.

Sometimes I can remember something irritating that happened three weeks ago with astonishing accuracy, including what the other person said and what I wish I'd said back. Yet I can forget an answered prayer from last month unless I deliberately stop and think about it.

Funny what our minds choose to keep readily available.

We rehearse frustrations until we practically know them by heart.

Maybe we should give a little more attention to remembering what God has done.

Psalm 34:1 says, "I will bless the LORD at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth."

David knew plenty about difficult circumstances. His life wasn't an uninterrupted series of pleasant experiences. He had enemies, family troubles, personal failures, and periods when his future was anything but certain. Still, praise was important to him.

I think we can learn from that without turning every conversation into a sermon. People don't need us to quote Scripture at them every time they mention something difficult.

Sometimes they need somebody to listen.

Sometimes we need to acknowledge that things really are hard.

But if we've walked with God for any length of time, we should have something good to say about Him. Something personal. Maybe something nobody else knows about.

I don't believe we have to pretend we're cheerful when we're hurting, and I certainly wouldn't want anybody to think that God stops listening whenever they're struggling with an attitude.

He heard the complaining in Malachi too. He knew exactly what was going on. What interests me is that He also took notice of those who feared Him and spoke together with His Name in mind. Their conversations weren't insignificant to Him.

What Do Our Everyday Conversations Say About God?

That makes me want to pay closer attention to mine. Especially the casual ones, when I'm not sitting down for prayer or trying to say anything spiritual.

What comes out when somebody asks how life is going?

What do I say about God when I haven't received the answer I wanted?

And when somebody else is discouraged, do I help them remember God's goodness, or do I give them a few more reasons to complain?

I have some work to do in that area. Perhaps you do too.

So today, think of something God has done for you that deserves to be remembered. You probably won't have to search very far. Tell somebody about it when the opportunity comes.

And if you're still upset about something, talk to God about that too. There's no reason to pretend He doesn't already know.

I just keep coming back to those people in Malachi. They were talking together, thinking about God, and He was paying attention to what they said..

And He is listening right now. I wonder what He'll hear from us today.

If this resonates with you, here's a short prayer you can say today:

"Dear God, thank You for being so patient with me, especially when my attitude gets ahead of my better judgment and I start talking without thinking about what I'm saying. Help me remember Your goodness more readily because there have been plenty of times when You've helped me and I've moved on to the next concern without properly thanking You. I want the things I say to reflect a heart that's growing closer to You, even when I'm tired or something has disappointed me. Keep working on my thinking because I know there's still some work to be done there. Amen."

God bless you! 

Your brother in Christ,

Daniel
Daily Effective Prayer

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