Does God Hear Me?

“Where can I go from your spirit? Or where can I flee from your presence?  If I ascend to heaven, you are there;     if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there.” Psalm 139:7-8

“Does God hear me?”

A lady at Kroger walked straight up to me with tears in her eyes and asked me that question. People usually don’t ask me such pressing questions as I’m grabbing a gallon of milk, but I was wearing my priest collar. I know it’s not easy for someone to walk up to a stranger and ask such a big question, but after hearing her story, she needed to know that God was listening to her. She was in a dark valley and couldn’t see any semblance of hope.

I think there are seasons in all of our lives when God feels distant or hidden. Many have characterized this as a spiritual desert. But if you read Scripture long enough, you realize that the desert can be a place of spiritual renewal. Believe it or not, it can be a place to find the goodness of God like never before.

Sometimes it's when we’ve lost those things that we thought were a guarantee in our life (relationships, careers, etc.) that become fertile ground for rediscovering God and his purpose for our lives. When the foundation of life begins to shake, then we must reevaluate everything, but it’s also a chance to meet our Good Shepherd once more.

God does not promise that we will go through life unscathed, but he does promise that he will never leave us nor forsake us. If the Son of God had to go through so much pain and sorrow in his own life, then his disciples would not get to bypass it either. Rather, it is in the Incarnate One that we are reminded that we are never alone.

In the ways that we have been forsaken by loved ones, he, too, was forsaken by his dearest friends. When we go through temptations or physical trials, we can look at Jesus in the desert being tempted by the devil or on the Roman whipping floor before his crucifixion. When he walked out of that tomb, he was bringing us with him into new and abundant life.

We must be bold in our questions and fearlessly ask at times, “Does God hear me?” At the same time, I hope that when we look at Jesus, we see God’s answer: he not only hears us, but he knows us, our pain, and has redeemed it all for our sake.