Have you ever talked to someone at a party whose eyes, even as you speak, are roving across the room, looking for someone more interesting to talk to? Frustrating, isn't it! We don't just want to feel tolerated, or even casually listened to – we want to feel heard.

The good news is, God doesn't just tolerate our words. He doesn't sit there with a bored expression, waiting for us to finish. He is actively, intensely, excitedly interested in what we say, what we sing, what we think and what we feel. God really hears us!

And it doesn't stop there. Not only does He listen, but He responds to what we have to say, both in His words and His deeds. We actually influence the actions of Almighty God!

There is a remarkable dialogue that goes on in Genesis 18:16-33, where Abraham pleads for the city of Sodom to be spared. Six times Abraham 'negotiates' a threshold for the number of righteous people that would result in the sparing of Sodom. Six times God seems to 'change His mind' and give Abraham what he wants.

Think about this. The God who created the heavens and the earth, who determines the course of the planets, who originates and sustains the laws that keep the universe – this same God listens to the prayers of one man, and alters His actions accordingly. Amazing! Now this is not the place to enter into a discussion about the sovereignty of God! But what is clear is that our prayers and petitions help to shape the destiny of the church and the world.

At first it may seem disrespectful, even shocking, to harangue God in this way. But it's important to realize that we do this at the invitation of God Himself. Aside from the many examples in the Bible where people have cried to God in this way and have been answered, we also have the mandates of Jesus' own words, both in Luke 11:5-13, and in the parable of the persistent widow in Luke 18:1-8. Indeed, in this second passage the exhortation couldn't be clearer:

"Will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night?"(v7)

God is not put off by our fervor; on the contrary, I believe it's the same kind of passion we read of in the above passages that God seeks in us. As we cry to God to dispel the gross darkness in our land and cause His name to be exalted, let us catch something of His heart, His passion, and His sorrow for the state of our world.

But it's also important to understand our pain and longing in the context of God's ultimate purposes. Just as the psalmist often ends even his most despairing psalms with a statement of what we know about the goodness of God, so we also need to acknowledge that God has a plan – a plan to fully, finally and completely answer our cries for justice and mercy, that will put an end to sorrow, isolation, and pain – a plan to return and "make all things new" (Rev 21:5). Our passion to see God move in the earth now is to be matched by our passion to see Jesus come back, and we can join in with John's excitement in the final verses of Revelation, as the church cries together: "Maranatha! Come Lord Jesus!"

Copyright © 2001 Stuart Townend