“He doesn’t hide when you call. He hears your prayers.”

A thought by Max Lucado from his book, Anxious for Nothing: Finding Calm in a Chaotic World (Kindle Location 1276). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition. (Click on the title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.)

Do you ever hide when you see a homeless person coming?  You know they want something from you.  God is not like that.

Max says, “God doesn’t delay. He never places you on hold or tells you to call again later. God loves the sound of your voice. Always. He doesn’t hide when you call. He hears your prayers.  For that reason, ‘be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God’ (Phil. 4:6).”

He goes on, “With this verse, the apostle calls us to take action against anxiety. Until this point, he has been assuring us of God’s character: his sovereignty, mercy, and presence. Now it is our turn to act on this belief. We choose prayer over despair. Peace happens when people pray.”  And we need that don’t we in the world in which we live?

He later says, “God calls us to pray about everything. The terms prayer, supplication, and requests are similar but not identical. Prayer is a general devotion; the word includes worship and adoration. Supplication suggests humility. We are the supplicants in the sense that we make no demands; we simply offer humble requests. A request is exactly that—a specific petition. We tell God exactly what we want. We pray the particulars of our problems.

“What Jesus said to the blind man, he says to us: ‘What do you want me to do for you?’ (Luke 18:41 NIV). One would think the answer would be obvious. When a sightless man requests Jesus’ help, isn’t it apparent what he needs? Yet Jesus wanted to hear the man articulate his specific requests.”  As he does with us.

As we read further Max says, “God is not manipulated or impressed by our formulas or eloquence. But he is moved by the sincere request. After all, is he not our Father? As his children, we honor him when we tell him exactly what we need.”

He finishes this chapter by saying, “The path to peace is paved with prayer. Less consternation, more supplication. Fewer anxious thoughts, more prayer-filled thoughts. As you pray, the peace of God will guard your heart and mind. And, in the end, what could be better?”

And what could be better?