010-31-2015

 Good Morning All!!

          Psalm 31:22; “I had said in my alarm, “I am cut off from your sight.”  But you heard the voice of my pleas for mercy when I cried to you for help.”

    George Berkeley in 1770 began to formulate one of the more famous philosophical riddle in mankind’s history.  It eventually came to be this; “If a tree falls in a forest and no one is there to hear it; does it still make a sound?”  This is one of the first questions asked to budding philosophers.  Does sound depend on someone hearing it?  Are events entirely experiential or do they exist in the abstract with or without animal participation?  This question is not only one of the more famous; it is also one of the most parodied.  In a “Far Side” cartoon, Gary Larson once asked, “If a tree falls in a forest and hits a mime, does anyone care?”   The Geico Insurance commercial answers the question with, “Well did you know that if a tree falls in the forest it does make a sound?”  Of course one of the most quoted parodies is ascribed to Maura O’Connell in a copy of Spin magazine, “If a man speaks in a forest, and there is no woman there to hear him, is he still wrong?”    

    It is truly a vexing question; if no one is there, does anyone hear?  When you are alone, does anyone hear you?  When the cares of the day build up and fill our heart with anxiety, does anyone hear our cry?  When we look around us and all we see are our enemies lurking about seeking to destroy us, does anybody hear?  When we feel like we have been cut off from God’s sight, who hears our pleas?

    Of course we know the answer to all of these; we know that God hears us.  God hears our every cry, whimper and lament we have.  When you cry for God’s mercy, God responds and hears your pleas and listens with his heart to your cry.  God hears you.

     Yet there is a truth even greater than this.  Many years ago, while talking to a lady who had cancer and we talked about how prayer brings peace.   After a couple of minutes and then in a very quiet voice she spoke.    “Late at night, when the pain is bad, I try to pray and I don’t know what to say.  I don’t know the words; I don’t know how to start.  Sometimes, I just lie there and wonder what it all means.”  The wonder of prayer is that God hears you even when you don’t make a sound.  Even in your greatest distress and you cannot form the words or thoughts; God hears you.  Prayer works, not because of our great oratory skills.  Prayer works because God’s love is at the root of it all.  Prayer works because of God’s mercy towards us moves him to answer, to answer the unsaid prayer with the same compassion as the spoken one. 

    When you hurt, God knows.  When you fear, God listens.  When you simply tremble, God answers.  God’s great mercy is always there, always listening and always responding to our pleas.  Rest in his arms; you are never out of his sight or out of his grace.

Father, there are times when my mouth knows no words.  Yet you hear my cry, your Spirit cries Your mercy restores my soul.  Hear when we pray but especially when we do not.  In the precious name of Jesus, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret