Call and Answer
Posted on: June 8, 2015
- In: Everyday Life | Faith | Prayer
- Comments Off on Call and Answer
My parents, who just celebrated 47 years of marriage
I have a lot of love and respect for my mother. A very smart and creative woman, she has raised two children and many pets (and some livestock along the way), dealt with a lot of change and upheaval as a military wife, and recently marked 47 years of marriage.
Over the years, if I’ve needed advice on anything from making a decent cup of coffee to handling toddler tantrums, from coping with diabetic pets to surviving the teen years, she has often been the first person I’ve called. Even when she doesn’t have advice to share, even when she can offer only a shoulder to cry on, somehow I feel better.
In this age of voice message systems and automated everything, how precious it is to have someone who will take the time to listen!
Do we feel the same about our prayer time with God? Do we know he always listens when we share our worries, fears, hopes and aspirations with him? Even when he doesn’t answer us right away, and even when he doesn’t offer the answer we’re hoping for?
Recently I read David’s words in Psalm 138:1-3* (italics mine):
I give you thanks, O LORD, with my whole heart;
before the angels I sing your praise;
I bow down toward your holy temple
and give thanks to your name for your mercy and your faithfulness;
for you have exalted above everything
your name and your word.
On the day I called, you answered me,
my strength of soul you increased.
Maybe we think that we’re not important enough to take up his time, or that our problems are too small in the grand scheme of things. But the scriptures encourage us to call on God:
I call upon you, for you will answer me, O God;
incline your ear to me, hear my words. (Psalm 17:6)
I love the LORD, because he has heard
my voice and my supplications.
Because he inclined his ear to me,
therefore I will call on him as long as I live. (Psalm 116:1-2)
God tells us that he will hear our prayers, he will listen, and he will answer:
Because he clings to me in love, I will deliver him;
I will protect him, because he knows my name.
When he calls to me, I will answer him;
I will be with him in trouble,
I will rescue him and honor him. (Psalm 91:14-15)
And when we spend time in conversation with him, we will be strengthened to face our challenges, we will want to thank him for our blessings, and we will be encouraged to come to him time and again.
We value and depend on our conversations with friends and loved ones for guidance and comfort; I pray that, even more so, we would value and depend on the time we spend talking with and listening to the Lord.
“And I tell you, Ask, and it will be given you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For every one who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.”
~ Luke 11:9
(*Scripture quotes taken from the Holy Bible, Revised Standard Version, Second Catholic Edition.)
A Catholic Convert in Ottawa 