Psalm 28:2 Hear the voice of my supplications, when I cry unto thee, when I lift up my hands toward thy holy oracle
Have you ever heard a preacher preach through a prayer? Maybe a preacher was called on to pray and he has a three point prayer, “God we know that…” Then he gives point number one. “And God we also know that…”Then he gives point number two, and so on. We have probably all experienced that, and as a preacher, I’ve probably been guilty of that on occasion. Ultimately, prayer is not something to be heard by other people.
Sometimes we pray to be heard of ourselves. It’s amazing how many things have untangled themselves from my mind when they come out through my mouth toward God. I’ve learned many things by actually hearing myself pray aloud. That can be beneficial, but prayer is not something that is intended to be heard by me alone. Prayer isn’t intended to be heard by anyone but God. Spurgeon said that the goal of prayer is the ear of God. Certainly that is true.
Psalm 28:2 says, “Hear the voice of my supplications, when I cry unto thee, when I lift up my hands toward thy holy oracle.” Psalm 28:6 says, “Blessed be the LORD, because he hath heard the voice of my supplications.” If you look at Psalm 20 through Psalm 28 we are reminded many times that God hears. That is the purpose of prayer. Psalm 20:1 says, “The LORD hear thee in the day of trouble.” Psalm 22:24 says, “When he cried unto him, he heard.” We could go on and on.
The point is that both patience and hope are born of the confidence that God hears me. Psalm 27:13 says, “I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.” “The land of the living” is a reference to right here and right now in this life. It continues, “Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD.” That comes from the confidence that God hears my prayer.
Whatever your needs, problems, hopes, or aspirations are, it is not wrong to be heard of other people or yourself, but prayer is about looking to God and being heard of Him. I have a friend that says when we pray with other people, we are drawn into closer fellowship with them. That’s true and good. He goes on to say that when you pray alone you are drawn into closer fellowship with God. That is true as well. We should pray and share requests with other people, but no matter if we pray in a group or alone, our prayers are to be heard of God because He the One Who answers them.