“It is YOUR PRAYER that He listens for,” Paul encouraged. “WHAT IF … the Lord is always waiting for you to pray to Him? WHAT IF … when you put your mind on Him and reached out to Him, He was right there waiting, listening, and welcoming you to share from your heart? Mark, what if?” (from:  A Reason to Pray at Mountainview)

In the novel Mark Terrell had more doubt than faith when it came to prayer. He was convinced by his feelings, physical senses, and his circumstances that the Father God didn’t care about what he had to say. To Mark, God had checked out of his personal life years ago. Mark’s new friend countered the doubt with scripture. After all, faith comes when we accept and embrace the promises of God from the scriptures (Romans 10:17).

Knowing God’s heart towards prayer should give us a ground breaking reason to make time to pray. The promises that were shared with Mark Terrell swallowed the doubts and fears that haunted him when he wanted to pray. The promises were simple, but Mark found them to be deep and powerful enough to awaken his heart with fresh hope. The promises are found in Psalm 34:15.

“The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, And His ears are open to their cry.”

The priceless message in Psalm 34:15 is quoted in the New Testament by the Apostle Peter in his first letter to the early Church—I Peter 3:12. The message remains for the NT Christian as it was for saints of the OT.

A Picture of God’s Heart – Psalm 34:15

The ancient Hebrew language is a picture language. The intent of the writer is to create a picture in our minds to help convey his message. Our scripture text gives a wonderful picture of how much God delights in our prayers and how personal our prayers are to Him. The two descriptive phrases in that text tell us about God’s love towards His righteous ones. Each phrase holds a promise from God. The first one is:

“The eyes of the Lord are upon the just”

We are always before His eyes. We always have His attention. He never turns His back on us or has a lapse of interest in us. His attention is constantly towards you and for you. As the Psalmist says in Psalm 119:168, “…for all my ways are before You.” For many people, knowing that everything that they do, think, and say is before God is uncomfortable. But if you are In Christ–cleansed and made whole by His redeeming work, then this verse should have the opposite effect.  Our ways are before Him not as a condemning judge watching and waiting for us to mess up (that’s a giv’me). He is our God, Father, Savior, Comforter, and Keeper. I don’t want to be outside of His eyes for one second, and neither should you if you’re His beloved. I need His ever-watchful eye; His ever-caring heart; His ever-covering grace when I am awake and when I am asleep.

Seeing the picture in Psalm 34:15 should bring peace and joy. It reassures us that God will never lose interest in who we are or with our company. When you sit down to pray, remind yourself of the promise from God the Father in Psalm 34:15.

“Father, I am so grateful that Your eyes are on me, and as I pray You are ever-present in love and grace. This is all because of Jesus Christ. Bless the name of the Lord Jesus Christ!”