Can You Hear Me Now?

Unless you’ve lived under a rock without TV for the last 15 years you think of Verizon when you hear the phrase “Can you hear me now”. A guy in dark hair and glasses (who actually now does commercials for Sprint) would be in different places in the country asking that question, “Can you hear me now?”; displaying for us the wide coverage of the Verizon network. No, this blog post is not sponsored by Verizon…. Anyway, the idea is that Verizon has this great network that can provide cell coverage so that you can be heard almost anywhere. This sort of applies to a verse in Psalm 66. Here it is: If I regard iniquity in my heart, The Lord will not hear. I think the idea is that sin hampers our “signal” to God’s ear. It’s not that God “cannot” hear; after all, God can do anything. Rather, it’s that God “will not hear”. Sort of an interesting idea to ponder isn’t it?

Will God not hear because He is upset or angry? Will God not hear because He feels scorned? What is it about “iniquity” (a fancy word for sin) that leads to God not hearing? I tend to think that the idea is more about us than about God. Sin spoils our ability to pray effectively. Sin ruins our perspective on what we should be asking God to do in prayer or expressing to God. We see this in James 4:3: 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures. God will not hear because our sin negatively influences what we ask for. In fact, God’s not hearing our prayers when we are being influenced by sin is really for our own benefit. So what can we do? Repent. Clear up the signal from our end. Don’t allow sin to keep you from sending a clear signal. God wants to hear you and He desires to answer your prayers but only if they are in step with His will for your life.