The one who answers

THE onE WHO ANSWERS

 

You will answer me. (Psalm 86:7)

 

While I was in college, I read Homer's Odyssey, and one part in particular stood out to me. A young girl offered Odysseus assistance, and in gratitude Odysseus told her he would pray to her. This made no sense to me. The girl couldn't hear the prayers, much less answer them, and it did not benefit her to be worshipped. But perhaps Homer knew not to expect answers from gods he wrote about anyway, so why not have his character pray to a teenager! It would make no difference in the result.

            But it is different when Christians pray. Our God is the God who answers prayers. Our God is real, not a fantasy. He is powerful and well able to hear us and provide for us the things we need.

            A couple weeks ago, my eleven-year-old son, Noah, visited our church's parsonage to play with our new pastor's ten-year-old son, Samuel. Our pastor recently came to us from another state, and Samuel's mother told me after he and Noah played together that Samuel had been praying for a friend, and he was thrilled that his prayer was answered. She also told me that Samuel later advised his older brother to pray about a problem because, he said, “It works!”

 

—Margaret Ann Travis

 

Praise God because He is real and can hear us.