During 2025, Peachtree Church is focusing on the Book of Psalms with a series called Dwell, through which we seek to deepen our conversation with God and open ourselves to hearing his response. The practice of praying three times each day will unite the voices of our hearts and souls as we seek the day when we will see the full realization of the Kingdom of God, promised in Revelation 21:3: “…Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.”
We will email devotionals twice weekly with Monday’s providing an overview of the Psalm as a whole, and Wednesday’s focused on that week’s Daily Dwell.
Lord, hear my voice. Let your ears be attentive to my cry for mercy.
Psalm 130:2
Devotional
When we lived in Mississippi, we had neighbors in their early 90s. The wife struggled with peripheral artery disease, making walking difficult. One Saturday I was working in our backyard, and I heard her (beyond the six-foot privacy fence) calling to her husband from their back door. She called multiple times, then gave up and went back into the house.
I remembered that the husband had shared with me once that sometimes he did not feel like talking to her, so he would act as if he did not have his hearing aids in. I waited a couple of minutes, then in a slightly louder than conversational tone asked, “Hey, John, what are you working on today?”
“Well, Chuck, I have some weeds taking over here.” It was all I could do to keep from laughing out loud!
We have all heard the phrase “selective hearing,” and applied it to our children, or our spouse, or students, or even ourselves. But do you know to whom we will never apply that phrase?
God. The Lord promises to always hear us.
In this Psalm, the writer has found himself in a world of hurt. He feels as though his life is in the pits. I can imagine that he feels as if all of his bridges have burned, his resources have evaporated, his support systems have been exhausted. Everywhere he turns, there seem to be nothing but deaf ears.
As the Psalm unfolds, we learn that the Lord does in fact hear. God is always listening to us. There is an old prayer that thanks God for being “always more ready to hear our prayers than we are to turn to Him.” We can take comfort in the knowledge that the Lord who loves us, who claimed us, always listens to us.
For Reflection
- When have you practiced selective hearing? Did that help you or harm you?
- When have you been on the receiving end of selective hearing—and how did that make you feel?
- How does it feel to know that God will never practice selective hearing in relationship to you?
Prayer
Lord, I thank you that you are always more ready to hear my prayers than I am to turn to You. Thank you for listening to me, for hearing me, and always loving me. Give me the confidence that I need to bring everything in my life to you. In Jesus’ name, amen.
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Devotionals