230. Eyes Open, Ears Attentive
2 Chronicles 6:40 Now, my God, let, I beseech thee, thine eyes be open, and let thine ears be attent unto the prayer that is made in this place.
The promise is that God sees and hears prayer. The eyes and ears of God, of course, are open and attentive everywhere, since God knows everything and sees everything everywhere in the universe. This is God’s omnipresence. But that is different than His special presence in a place or person or event when God is present to bless. God is especially present to see and hear spoken or whispered prayer, or even thoughts, made in faith in Jesus’ name.
God was present to bless “in this place.” That place is where the Lord said He would be located on earth and where He could be accessed, because He said so. Since Christ lived, died, rose and ascended the temple of the special presence of God is in the body of believers collectively and in the body of the individual believer. Inside each believer is “the place” where God’s eyes are open and His ears attentive. If God had a visible body we would see Him focusing His eyes and cocking His ears in the direction of our hearts to pay attention to our prayers. He may wait a long time for the expected prayer to come from our spirits, but He never gives up waiting. We need to have this sense, according to the promise, that the Lord is eagerly and expectantly waiting for us to pray. He longs to hear your voice and read your thoughts. He delights in you and wants to hear from you.
We can designate a “place of prayer” as a visual aid to lift up our faith. Jesus often went to a desolate place to pray and commune with the Father. However, true worshipers may pray in spirit and in truth any place at any time, for the presence of God always goes with us, and He is always in the “temple” waiting to hear from us. The promise is that the Lord, who hears prayer, is always available. When we don’t avail ourselves of that gift “what needless pain we bear.”