Hear me when I call, o God of my righteousness: thou hast enlarged me when I was in distress; have mercy upon me, and hear my prayer. Psalm 4:1
The Lord God is not ignorant of anything that takes place in His universe. If David, or anyone else for that matter, speaks in prayer, or cursing or in any other way, He is not only aware of the act, but also the motive behind it. He hears not only the language of the lips, but that of the heart. Perhaps we are praying, "Lord, forgive me for this sin," while we harbor in our hearts every intention of committing it again. He knows this.
Why, then, if God hears and knows everything, do we find David so often pleading in this way? There is a sense in which God does turn a deaf ear to many who presume to speak to His majesty! Ps. 66:18 If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me. In Jeremiah we read concerning a people, that the Lord not only would not hear their prayer; but if anyone would pray for them, He would not hear them either (7:16, 11:14)!
What a sobering realization! Surely we are no less sinful than these people whom God would not hear. God certainly has no obligation to acknowledge the likes of us. I wonder how different our prayers would be if we were aware of this as we approach His high throne. I know that if He ever does hear the utterance of these wretched lips and heart, it is for the sake of His beloved Son, whose blood has availed for my sin and who stands in interceding love on my behalf before the Father's face. It is, as David knew, the God of my righteousness, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall hear me.
If He hear me not, if the King will not give me audience, then though I have the sympathy and good wishes of the world, I shall be without hope or help. Yet, if only He shall hear me, the ill will of all people shall find me rejoicing and refreshed. As David acknowledges in the latter phrase of our verse, for God to turn His ear toward us, is an act of pure and sovereign mercy.
With David, I cry for this mercy knowing that all favor, goodness, truth and blessing hang upon whether or not God will..
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