God Hears

"Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the LORD, 'Remember, O LORD, how I have walked before you faithfully and with wholehearted devotion and have done what is good in your eyes.' And Hezekiah wept bitterly.
 ‘This is what the LORD, the God of your father David, says: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears.'"
Isaiah 38:2,3,5

God had performed a tremendous miracle. Hezekiah had spread out the threatening letter from the Assyrian king before God and prayed. God answered and Jerusalem was delivered without one person lifting a sword. God won the victory. But after this happened, Hezekiah face another battle; one that was life or death.  He had become very ill. In fact, it looked as if he would die. It is at this point that our scripture took place. Hezekiah prayed again. He reminded God of the life he had lived before him. He professed his devotion to God, and he wept...bitterly.
    Prayer is an amazing thing. Hezekiah understood the power of meeting with God. He had seen God do great things. He had received answers. He knew who his source of strength was and where true help was found. This was a time when no person could help. No nation could come to his aid, no earthly king could be his ally. Only God, who has the power of life and death, could help. So Hezekiah prayed.
    I think we need to understand the power of prayer. I think we also need to understand that there are no rules, no formulas, no methods, that make one prayer better or more effective than another. The reason Hezekiah's prayers were answered was because of his heart. He went to God with passion. He didn't have a formula or preconceived ideas about what he would say, or how he might manipulate God to move. He simply cried out to God from a heart that was hurting. He had great needs and he presented them to God. Everyone, including Hezekiah, thought that he would die. There was no earthly way that a person could live through the affliction. But God, in his mercy, gave clear direction and Hezekiah lived.
    I find freedom in this story. I sometimes wrestle with notions that I must pray correctly for God to hear me and answer. But I learn through this story, that God is interested in my heart, not my eloquent or correctly ordered words. He loves me and he feels the pain that I feel. Let's be released from the old ideas that we must pray perfectly for God to hear and answer. If we go to God with hearts that long for his touch, he will answer. We cannot manipulate God and we can't appeal to him on the basis of our own righteousness. We are not perfect and he knows it. We come to him because we have been given access through the blood of Jesus, shed for us. If we come with shouts or tears, it does not matter. What does matter is our heart for God and our cry of desperation. When we are honest with God, when we lay our lives at his feet, he hears.  And he answers our every prayer.