You likely have seen it several times: that commercial where an older son and his aging father are working on a project together. The son spontaneously says, “I love you, Dad,” but his father fails to understand what has been said and asks the son to repeat it. After that father buys the hearing aids which are the focus of the ad, they are seen again working on the same project when the son says, “I love you, Dad.” The father asks the son what he said, so he says it again. The father’s response is, “I heard you the first time, I just wanted to hear you say it again.”
I have been thinking lately of another Father who might have the same feelings. Our heavenly Father hears every word we say, but have you ever thought that He might just want to hear us say it again? Is this one of the reasons He literally asks us to keep on asking, seeking and knocking? Is this possibly one of the reasons He asks us to assemble every week? We may offer the same prayers and sing the same songs, but He just wanted to hear us say it again. If an earthly father never tires of hearing a child express their love to him, what about our heavenly One?
Do you think God could ever tire of hearing us say, “Have Thine own way, Lord, have Thine own way. Thou art the potter I am the clay. Mold me and make me, after Thy will; while I am waiting, yielded and still”? Imagine how earthly parents feel when their children say that they hope to someday be exactly like us. How much more our heavenly Father.
Can you imagine God ever tiring of hearing us say, “God, I am so sorry I let you down? Forgive me and I promise I will try to do better from now on”? The combination of pride and embarrassment may have kept that prodigal son nearly starving to death in a foreign land, but would his father have ever tired of hearing these words, though spoken again and again from a son’s truly penitent heart?
Would God ever tire of hearing us say, “Thank you from the depths of my heart for all those times you have providently provided for me, and I failed to thank you. I regret I worried about it. Help me to trust you more”?
When we pray and plead with God, “I need your help. I tried to do it on my own, and I have made such a mess of it. God, please help me,” would He not always respond, “I heard you say this before, but I just wanted to hear it again”?
If all of this is true, why are we so hesitant to say the words which would bring so much joy to Him? Have we forgotten how much He loves us? Next week, let’s think about some of words in the songs we sing and see how much joy they bring to God, even though He has heard them before.