Listen

Have mercy on me, Lord,
    because I cry out to you all day long.
Make your servant’s life happy again
    because, my Lord, I offer my life to you,
because, my Lord, you are good and forgiving,
    full of faithful love for all those who cry out to you.

Psalm 86:3-5

Think

Crying, weeping, and screaming are all recognizable. We can tell when someone is in distress, full of fear, sad, or in pain by the sounds they make. We live in a world where those sounds seem more familiar, especially as we watch the news and hear the sounds of war and crime. Is God hearing what we are hearing? Is God listening to us and those who are crying out amid tragedy?

Yes, God hears. God has always heard.

Crying out to God was not uncommon for the people of the Bible. Hagar cried out in the desert. The Israelites cried out in the wilderness. The psalmist cried out in Psalms. Jesus cried out on the cross. The God who was listening then is listening now.

Trust that God is everything you know God to be: faithful, good, forgiving, and kind. Trust that God will do what you know God to do: protect, love, help, and deliver.

Jessalyn Brown

Pray

God,

Have mercy on me. I know that you are a good God who faithfully loves me and seeks to forgive. Let me always believe that you are with me and never let me think you are not listening.

Amen.

Go

As the day flows and your mind goes, may your thinking mirror God’s.