Did God Hear You?

Did God Hear You?

We are confident that he hears us whenever we ask for anything that pleases him.

1 John 5:14

Sunday was an extremely frustrating day for Susan. She had forgotten to set her alarm the night before, so she overslept. Everything went downhill from there. The kids were slow getting ready for church, Susan burned the waffles and had to start over, and she couldn’t do anything with her hair. On the way to church all the traffic lights were red. When Susan’s family slipped into their pew about ten minutes late, they drew the critical eyes of the people around them.

Susan managed to sit through the church service, but she was distracted by her morning aggravations. On the way home after the service, she complained about how long the sermon had been. She griped when the traffic moved at a snail’s pace. And at the restaurant where they stopped for lunch, she fussed about the waitress and how long they had to wait to get their food.

When their lunches were delivered at last, Susan said, “Let’s pray,” and she led a prayer of thanks to God.

Throughout the morning Susan’s little girl had been watching her. As they began to eat, she said, “Mommy, did God hear you when you fussed about the sermon?”

“Well,” stammered Susan, “yes, I guess he did.”

“Did he hear you when you yelled at the traffic and complained about the waitress?”

“Yes, I’m sure he heard me, dear.”

“Well, Mommy, did God hear you just now when you prayed?”

“Yes, sweetheart, of course he did.”

“Then, Mommy, which one did God believe?”

Now that’s a good question, isn’t it? The truth is, God hears everything we say, whether we are praying or not. (It makes me want to put a zipper on my lips!)

O God, please forgive me for speaking words that do not glorify or please you. Help me to be more careful about my speech as well as my actions. Amen.