Hear from heaven their prayer and their plea. 1 Kings 8:45
At eighteen months old, little Maison had never heard his mother’s voice. Then doctors fitted him with his first hearing aids and his mom, Lauryn, asked him, “Can you hear me?” The child’s eyes lit up. “Hi, Baby!” Lauryn added. A smiling Maison responded to his mother with soft coos. In tears, Lauryn knew she’d witnessed a miracle. She’d given birth to Maison prematurely after gunmen shot her three times during a random home invasion. Weighing just one pound, Maison spent 158 days in intensive care and wasn’t expected to survive, let alone be able to hear.
That heart-warming story reminds me of the God who hears us. King Solomon prayed fervently for God’s attuned ear, especially during troubling times. When “there is no rain” (1 Kings 8:35), during “famine or plague,” disaster or disease (v. 37), war (v. 44), and even sin, “hear from heaven their prayer and their plea,” Solomon prayed, “and uphold their cause” (v. 45).
In His goodness, God responded with a promise that still stirs our hearts. “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land” (2 Chronicles 7:14). Heaven may seem a long way off. Yet Jesus is with those who believe in Him. God hears our prayers, and He answers them.
Read: 1 KINGS 8:37-45 (NIV)
37 “When famines or plaguet comes to the land, or blightu or mildew, locusts or grasshoppers,v
or when an enemy besieges them in any of their cities, whatever disaster or disease may come,
38 and when a prayer or plea is made by anyone among your people Israel
—being aware of the afflictions of their own hearts, and spreading out their handsw toward this temple—
39 then hearx from heaven, your dwelling place. Forgivey and act; deal with everyone according to all they do,
since you knowz their hearts (for you alone know every human heart),
40 so that they will feara you all the time they live in the landb you gave our ancestors.
41 “As for the foreignerc who does not belong to your people Israel but has come from a distant land because of your name—
42 for they will heard of your great name and your mighty hande and your outstretched arm—when they come and pray toward this temple,
43 then hear from heaven, your dwelling place. Do whatever the foreigner asks of you, so that all the peoples of the earth may knowf
your name and fearg you, as do your own people Israel, and may know that this house I have built bears your Name.h
44 “When your people go to war against their enemies, wherever you send them, and when they prayi
to the Lord toward the city you have chosen and the temple I have built for your Name,
45 then hear from heaven their prayer and their plea, and uphold their cause.
INSIGHT
- What troubling situation can you pray about today, believing God is hearing you from heaven?
- What help from God can you thank Him for because He hears your plea?
It’s interesting to note the “funnel of contexts” in 1 Kings regarding Solomon’s temple. At the top—the broadest context—is the account of the dedication of the temple (7:51–9:9). Down one layer is Solomon’s speech (8:12–61). The final layer is the prayer of dedication (vv. 22–53), where Solomon rehearses the circumstances in which God is bound by His covenant with His people to act on their behalf.
PRAYER
Heavenly Father, during my toughest struggles and troubles, I thank You for hearing my humble cry. In Jesus name, I pray. Amen!!
Read: 1 Kings 8:37-45 (NIV) | Bible in a Year: Genesis 29-30; Matthew 9:1-17
