First Kings
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
When Heaven Hears
(I Kings 8:27-40)
Folks like to think that God answers every prayer. The truth is that though God hears every prayer, He doesn’t always answer them. In fact, answered prayer is predicated upon the spiritual condition of the supplicant. In other words, the closer you are to the Lord spiritually, the better the possibility that your prayers will be answered. Some prayers, for example, are “dead in the water” before they’re even spoken. For example, when we pray contrary to the revealed will of God, God will not hear our prayer (I John 5:14). Confidence in prayer comes, in part, from praying according to God’s will as revealed in the Bible.
Solomon recognized that the newly built temple would be a house of prayer. Israel would gather within its precincts to bring their petitions before their God. And God would hear—or reject—their petitions based largely upon the condition of their hearts. According to Solomon, effective praying is dependent upon God’s forgiveness. In other words, the supplicant must first be a penitent, acknowledging personal sinfulness, confessing specific sins, and mournfully repenting of spiritual failure.
Four times in today’s Scripture passage, Solomon prays, “…when thou hearest, forgive” (30, 34, 36, and 39). In other words, forgiveness from God is a necessary prerequisite to approaching Him in prayer. The effectiveness of Israel’s prayers depended first upon their standing with God. Once confession and repentance had taken place, God could forgive and then hear their petitions.
Careless living spawns fruitless praying. Before we rush into God’s presence with our grocery list of desires, we would do well to examine ourselves for unconfessed sins and personal failures. Before asking for things, we should ask for cleansing. Every season of prayer should begin with a I John 1:9 attitude: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Once we’re forgiven, Heaven will hear our prayers!
