God accepts your prayers!
Do you feel listened to?
Do people hear you? Do people value what you say?
It can be pretty horrible when you feel people aren't listening to you. It can make us feel like we aren't important, or that we aren't valued. In a society that is often glued to screens for so much of the day, it can be difficult to get people's attention and be heard.
But you have God's attention!
No matter how busy God is (does God even get busy?) He accepts our prayers. He hears them, he loves them, and he accepts them. King David writes this in Psalm 6 - let's read the whole Psalm first:
Psalm 6
1 Lord, do not rebuke me in your anger or discipline me in your wrath.
2 Have mercy on me, Lord, for I am faint; heal me, Lord, for my bones are in agony.
3 My soul is in deep anguish. How long, Lord, how long?
4 Turn, Lord, and deliver me; save me because of your unfailing love.
5 Among the dead no one proclaims your name. Who praises you from the grave?
6 I am worn out from my groaning. All night long I flood my bed with weeping and drench my couch with tears.
7 My eyes grow weak with sorrow; they fail because of all my foes.
8 Away from me, all you who do evil, for the Lord has heard my weeping.
9 The Lord has heard my cry for mercy; the Lord accepts my prayer.
10 All my enemies will be overwhelmed with shame and anguish; they will turn back and suddenly be put to shame.
As King David groans, his comfort comes from knowing that God accepts his prayers, his words, his groans, his confessions, and his requests:
9 The Lord has heard my cry for mercy; the Lord accepts my prayer.
God hears, and He accepts our prayers.
It is an amazing privilege that God accepts our human words. In all his majesty, sitting on His heavenly throne as he rules over all the earth, he accepts your prayer and my prayer. Our words, our requests, feeble as they often are, are accepted by the King who rules over all.
What does this say to you?
It says, for one thing, that you are important to Him. You are valued by Him. You are accepted by Him. The world may not listen to you, the world may not hear your cries, but God does.
Do not stop praying. As Paul wrote to the Thessalonians:
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
16Rejoice always, 17pray continually, 18give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
Prayer
Heavenly Father,
Thank you that you hear me and that you accept my prayers. May I continue to make the most of this great privilege to come to you in prayer, knowing that you hear me, you value me, and you accept me.
Accept my cry for mercy. Accept my humble confessions. Accept my requests. But above all, accept my thanks and praise for who you are and for all you have done for me.
I pray all of this in Jesus' name.
Amen.