209. Eyes and Ears of God are Open to us
1 Kings 8:51, 52 For they be thy people, and thine inheritance, which thou broughtest forth out of Egypt, from the midst of the furnace of iron: That thine eyes may be open unto the supplication of thy servant, and unto the supplication of thy people Israel, to hearken unto them in all that they call for unto thee.
Solomon continues his Temple Dedication Prayer confirming the promise that the Lord who lives in this Temple hears the prayers of Solomon and the prayers of His people. The Lord promises to listen to every prayer that His people pray to Him. The promise that God hears prayer is replete in the Scriptures, so that we may have no doubt that God hears our prayers.
God listens, God hears, God hearkens, and God responds to every prayer prayed to Him in faith and in His name. However, He does not always answer in the way or the time that we demand. His good and gracious will is still sovereign and the Lord can only act according to His will for us. Although He listens, He may say that He will not answer the way we want for that would not be good for us. He may have something better for us that we could not, with our limited minds, know about. Although He listens, He may need to work out other issues before that particular request can be granted.
No prayer prayed in faith will go unheard, although the answer may come in a different way or time that we wanted. However, prayers not prayed in faith will not be heard, since God cannot reward unbelief. We remember that God desires a loving relationship with us, not just to be a machine that gives us what we want. God is seeking people who worship Him in spirit and truth. By the way, faith does not mean believing for the specific answer so that our faith can make it happen; it means trusting God to be the God who hears. God wants a personal relationship with Him, not with His gifts and blessings.
The interesting promise about prayer is that even though God knows what we need before we ask Him He still wants us to pray for it, because He loves to hear from us. When God gives us the requests we seek according to His will our relationship is closer and more intimate than it was before. So Solomon encourages and inspires us to pray by giving us the promise: God cares and God hears.