{"id":10951,"date":"2024-07-23T03:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-07-23T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/?p=10951"},"modified":"2024-07-04T07:15:41","modified_gmt":"2024-07-04T12:15:41","slug":"bends-down","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/2024\/07\/23\/bends-down\/","title":{"rendered":"Bends Down"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

One-minute read.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Because he bends down to listen, I will pray as long as I have breath!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Psalm 116:2 NLT<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

My friend Claire has this Psalm as a signature on her emails. She introduced me to this verse, quickly becoming one of my favorites. I picture my grandfather bending down to me as a small girl so he could hear what I had to say. Now, the memory represents the Lord drawing close to me and listening to my prayers. My mind\u2019s eye sees God leaning into me, not wanting to miss a word I have to say. And He does the same for you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We all have different ideas of God, formed from our life experiences and relationship with Him.  Some of us didn\u2019t have grandfathers who bent down to listen to us, making it difficult to envision a Heavenly Father doing the same. Picture someone who leans in to hear what you say, and imagine God doing the same thing. The Lord loves you; He created you and knows everything about you. When you speak to Him, He listens attentively, not missing a word you say, wanting the best for you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just because the Lord doesn\u2019t answer the way you want doesn\u2019t mean He didn\u2019t hear you. God\u2019s ways differ from ours, as do His thoughts. Our limited view closes our eyes to the whole story. But the Lord knows the end game, and His answers help us reach His goals. God bends down, hears our prayers, and answers them according to His sovereign will. We may not understand everything now, but one day we will. Until then, we trust and pray, knowing God bends down to hear us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Application:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

God bends down to listen to us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prayer:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Lord, thank You for bending down to listen to our prayers. Please help us believe and trust, even when we don\u2019t understand. Give us faith to take the next steps in our journey, knowing You hear our prayers and guide our paths.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

IJNIP. Amen<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One-minute read. Because he bends down to listen, I will pray as long as I have breath! Psalm 116:2 NLT My friend Claire has this Psalm as a signature on her emails. She introduced me to this verse, quickly becoming one of my favorites. I picture my grandfather bending down to me as a small girl… Continue reading Bends Down<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10951","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","without-featured-image"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10951","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10951"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10951\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10957,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10951\/revisions\/10957"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10951"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10951"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10951"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}