He Listens

“At that very time,
the prayer of these two suppliants
was heard in the glorious presence of Almighty God.”

Tobit 3:16

Have you ever felt as if God was not listening, even when you prayed day in and day out? You’re not alone. Tobit was at his wits’ end and prayed to God for his death. It happened to Sarah too (Tobit 3:7ff) when she was falsely accused of being the cause of her husbands’ deaths for all seven of her husbands were killed off by a demon before they were able to have children. The people told her to go join her husbands. Sarah also wanted the Lord to take her life and she even planned to hang herself, but her prayer changed later. What caused this change? She thought about her father. She said, “No! May people never reproach my father and say to him, ‘You had only one beloved daughter, but she hanged herself because of her misfortune.’ And thus would I bring my father laden with sorrow in his old age to Hades” (Tobit 3:10).

At the end we are told that God heard their prayers and He sent the Angel Raphael to bring healing to Tobit and Sarah. Tobit was able to see again and Sarah was married off. The Lord hears the prayers and cries of the broken-hearted and He is close to the poor and outcast. And He as a plan for our lives that we could never have imagined. It is not always easy for us to see God’s plan when we are in the midst of our suffering, but we have to remember that whatever is plaguing us is not greater than God’s love.

When we are at our wit’s end, may we always remember that God sees all and hears us and listens to our cries. Perhaps like Sarah, we could think about the people in our lives who we love and how our actions might affect them. Are those whom we love worth us hanging in there? Do their love for me and my love for them strengthen my hope and faith in the Lord? God listens and He loves us. Hang in there.