God Delights To Hear You Pray
“the prayer of the upright is His delight”
Proverbs 15:8
How can we be upright before God so He will be delighted with our prayers?
Our verse says that it’s the “upright” who delight God with their prayers. But what does the writer mean by “upright”?
First, we need to see the joy that our Father has when He hears our voices. He uses “human” terms to describe Himself. He has “delight” in prayer. To Him it’s a source of pleasure when we address Him with our expressions of worship, submission, and petition.
Often in Scripture we read that God is pleased with the humble hearted and is distant from the proud. “The Lord is close to the broken hearted.” Psalm 34:18; “A broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.” Psalm 51:17; “I live in a high and holy place, but also with him who is contrite and lowly in spirit”. Isaiah. 57:15
We must be humble before Him. We can’t come to Him thinking we deserve to be heard.
Luke 18:10-14 makes this very clear. “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’ “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’ “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” (NIV)
God tells us that He knows the proud from a distance (Psalm 138:6). We can understand God’s attitude toward the proud from our own experience. Those who brag about their accomplishments are most often the very people we avoid.
On the other hand, the ones who seem more interested in us than themselves are those we identify with. So it’s important to consider our attitude about ourselves if we want to please God when we pray, and to find joy in our prayers.
The important thing is to pray to God yourself. I often suggest to start with, “God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” This is the most important need we have. We need forgiveness more than our next breath.
Then, each night, pray “Into Your hands I commit my spirit”.
If we love God we’ll pray for His will to be done, not ours.
Delight the heart of God today, by praying with meaning and joy.
“Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.” (Psalm 37:4 NIV)