By Guest Writer
Describing God in our limited, human language isn’t as cut and dry as we may like it to be. We know Jesus is fully God and fully man. We may even be able to recount many of God’s attributes, like His omnipresence and omniscience. We also know that God is sovereign and has numbered our days before we were born. God created the earth by speaking His Word; therefore, we can conclude what He says is and will be. Yet another complexity comes to mind when describing our God: His compassion and willingness to be moved by our cries, prayers, and desires. He is receptive to hearing us and responsive to our softened hearts.
In Psalm 86, we see David’s prayer of crying out to God for help. He was desperate and sincere in his pleas for the Almighty to move. Since God is sovereign, why would David bother to bring his petitions and needs to Him?
All over Scripture we see evidence of God being moved by the pleas of His people. In Exodus 32 and 33, Moses advocated for the people, and God responded with compassion. In Jonah 3, when the people turned from their evil ways, God did not bring destruction on them. In Matthew 15, a Gentile woman asked for healing for her daughter multiple times, and Jesus provided.
And while we know God is unchanging, we also know Him to be our Father who says we can come to Him at any time, repent freely, and make our petitions known to Him. He tells us to ask, seek, and knock. He tells us to let our requests be made known to Him (Matthew 7:7–8, Philippians 4:6). God responds to His people. He is a God who loves us, and He desires to hear and engage with His children.
LORD, hear my prayer; listen to my cries for mercy. I call on you in the day of my distress, for you will answer me.
—Psalm 86:6–7
We see a confidence in David that He knew His God would respond. Do we believe that truth as well?
This Lenten season, reflect on the fullness of God and His desire to interact, respond, and be in relationship with us. While we may not always receive the answer we want from God, may we recognize that we can stand confident that our God will respond because He loves us. God is unchanging, and He also is moved with compassion. We can hold the tension that both are true. May we embrace this beautiful, wonderful mystery of who God is.
Written by Sarah Wood
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