God Hears You He hears our cries of unhappiness, pain, frustration, exhaustion, and fear. We can be honest with Him. His listening ear is always open to our prayers. His loving heart wants to embrace us as we cry on His shoulder.
Even before God became man, it's clear throughout the Old Testament that God feels sorrow, even weeps for the crushing blows of His people. Psalm 34:18 promises us that “the Lord is close to the brokenhearted.” How can you be close to someone who is brokenhearted and not feel their pain?
“If you cry, you can reach Him,” assures Manickavachagar. Sundarar breaks a promise and the Lord deprives him of sight. Sundarar compares himself to milk in which some dust has fallen. If we see a speck of dust in a jar of milk, do we pour away all the milk?
Not so with God, whose fatherly compassion compels him to draw near to the brokenhearted and bind up their wounds (Psalm 147:3). The God who said, “Blessed are you who weep now” (Luke 6:21) will not reproach you for the tears you shed as you walk through the ruins of our broken world.
We know that God hears our prayers because of the prayer accounts presented in the Bible. People tell the story of God answering their prayers, how they prayed, and what they prayed about. The aforementioned example of Jesus in Matthew 6 is just one account of many.
The simple answer is yes, God hears your prayers. An ever-present, all-knowing God will hear every word from your mouth, thought in your mind and whisper of your heart. But there are some things that might affect whether He answers.
“The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.” The Good News: Even when you're in low spirits, God still loves you.
“The righteous cry, and the Lord heareth, and delivereth them out of all their troubles” (Psalm 34:17). “When I cry unto thee, then shall mine enemies turn back: this I know; for God is for me” (Psalm 56:9).
2 Corinthians 1:3-8
5 For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ. 6 If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer.
You can use your tears as prayer. Think of a time when you were so upset that you had no words to pray. There were times over this past year when I went to pray, and nothing came out but tears.
When we are suffering, God is right beside us. Nothing can separate us from His love. He wants to show us His love through His church, and give us a purpose through His Word!
Although suffering is alien to His goal for humanity, God uses it now as part of our development as people. Nothing forces a person to confront their true self like suffering. Suffering causes our focus to turn inward, to face those parts of ourselves we might otherwise ignore.
"The Lord laughs at him, For He sees that his day is coming." The wicked come against the righteous, the poor, and needy as if they were to live forever. God laughs, he sees their coming destruction and says, "A little that a righteous man has is Better than the riches of many wicked."
He hurts when we hurt. The psalmist said, “As a father pities his children, so the Lord pities those who fear Him. For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust” (Psalm 103:13-14). The truth that God hurts when we hurt found full expression when it was revealed in the person of Jesus Christ.
Theologians believe that humans can harm God in similar ways: They can't hurt God, but can still do God an injustice. But unlike human beings, God can't feel upset or otherwise emotionally dissatisfied.
The best thing you can do is tell God what you're angry about. He wants to hear from you about what you're thinking and feeling. Tell God honestly where you are at. God knows what's going on inside of you, but He wants to you be able to come to Him with honesty and openness.
Praying with the Psalms
Our prayer book in the Bible, the Psalms, bursts with songs of lament, not only those written by individuals but those for use in corporate worship. [i] The psalmists cry out to God, asking and even demanding that he help them.
Crying out, then, is a way for God's children to express trust in the Lord's ability and willingness to help. By calling upon Him with such urgency, wealso lay down our pride and any attitude of self-sufficiency. The Word of God assures us that our Father hears our cries and responds.
Depression is associated with sin because people experiencing depression are seen to lack some of the spiritual fruits that are regarded as evidence of genuine Christian faith: When dealing with people in the church... some see mental illness as a weakness —a sign you don't have enough faith.
Psalm 40:1-3
In this, and other Scriptures for depression, we're reminded that God is always near to the brokenhearted. No matter how deep the pit of despair you're in, God can lift you out. Just as He did for David, God can set you back on a path towards hope and He will steady you whenever you start to stumble.
Depression is Not a Sin
Feelings associated with depression are not a result of sin in our lives. Neither is a diagnosis of Major Depression a punishment for our life choices. Depression is simply a reality that can affect people from all walks of life.
Jesus said, absolutely not. Our heavenly Father is nothing like the judge in the parable (Luke 18:6-8). God never grows weary of listening to his children. In fact, Jesus told us to keep on asking, keep on seeking, and keep on knocking (Matthew 7:7, AMP).
He always has greater purposes than simply being a genie who will grant our wishes. God always answers our prayers but often doesn't do so in the timing we want or the ways we prefer. His answers may come as a “Yes,” or a “No,” or a “Wait.”
It could be you're not a child of God.
This may sound obvious or even cruel, but God has no obligation to answer the prayers of unbelievers (Psalm 34:15, 17; Proverbs 15:8, 29; John 9:31; 1 Peter 3:12). He may answer, but He has not obligated Himself to do so.