Heard, Seen, and Loved

But there was not a sound; No one answered, and no one was listening. // 1 Kings 18:29

My four-year-old has been getting frustrated lately as he yearns for more independence and pushes the boundaries my husband and I have set in place for him. It’s a very normal stage of development, but that doesn’t make it any easier—or less frustrating.

The most recent bouts of frustration (for all parties) have been occuring when he makes a request for something and our answer is no. Rather than accept the answer or even air a grievance for the no we have given, he continues to repeat the question as though we have not responded. “Answer me!” he will demand. And it isn’t until we explain that we have, in fact, answered, and that no is an answer, that he either gives up on the matter or dissolves into those big feelings he’s been trying to keep at bay. 

With that in mind, I couldn’t help but feel a twinge of pain when the author of the First Book of Kings tells us that after the prophets of Baal cried out to their god, “[T]here was not a sound;

No one answered, and no one was listening” (1 Kings 18:29). It’s one thing to not be answered (or more likely, to not receive the answer you desperately want), but it’s another to not be listened to. 

In this story, we can see the stark comparison between the false gods of Elijah’s contemporaries and the True God we know Who hears our prayers and knows our hearts. And while life does not always provide such concrete answers to our prayers as we see in God’s sending down fire for Elijah, we have faith that God is forever listening, even when He does not provide the answers we desire.

So sister, with that in mind, I encourage you to continue to cry out to God in prayer. He hears you. He sees you. He loves you.