A Forgiven Heart

A man experiencing a crisis in his life called the toll-free Psychiatric Hot Line listed in the phone directory. This is what he heard: “Welcome to the Psychiatric Hot Line. If you are obsessive-compulsive, repeatedly press 1. If you are codependent, ask someone to press 2. If you have multiple personalities, press 3, 4 and 5. If you are suffering from paranoia, we know who you are and what you want. Stay on the line until we trace the call. If you are schizophrenic, listen carefully and a little voice will tell you which number to press. If you are bipolar, it doesn’t matter what number you press. No one will answer. If you are depressed, push any button you wish. It won’t make any difference anyhow. Thank you for your call!”

Obviously that is just a joke, but there seems to be a lot of truth in it. So many times when we’re hurting or lonely, when we feel bad, when we feel guilty, etc., we need someone to listen to us and we cry out, but no one is really there or they don’t understand or they don’t care.

Psalm 130:1 says, “Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD.” In these words, we see someone in the pit of despair, someone struggling, someone in need of a listening ear. The Psalmist cries out to God, and the good news is that God hears him.

This good news is for us as well. When we’re in need, when we’re hurting, when we’re needing help, when we’re lonely, when we’re in need of forgiveness, we can know that God hears us. When we call on God, we aren’t going to get a voice-mail system, we won’t be put on hold. God desires us to come to Him and to cry out to Him. He listens. His ears are attentive to our voices. Psalm 6:9 says “The LORD has heard my cry for mercy; the LORD accepts my prayer.” 1 Peter 3:12 says, “For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer…” The good news is that God hears our voices.

But not only that, our loving God forgives! Psalm 130:3, 4a says, “If you, O LORD, kept a record of sins, O LORD, who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness.” 1 John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” That is truly incredible news, but the good news doesn’t end there. Psalm 103:12 says “…as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgression from us.” Do you realized that you can’t measure the distance from east to west? It never ends. It can’t be measured. What a beautiful picture of how far God removes our sins from us. What amazing grace!

So, the question is: What should our response be to God for not only hearing us, but also for His wonderful forgiveness? It’s simple: We should praise Him! Psalm 117 says, “Praise the LORD, all you nations; extol him, all you peoples. For great is his love towards us, and the faithfulness of the LORD endures forever. Praise the Lord.”

God has an amazing love for us. God hears our prayers. God forgives our sins. So, our natural response should be to praise Him. Sierra Hart, a Christian musician, once said, “When God answers a prayer of my heart, I am usually so grateful and relieved that it feels like the most natural thing in the world to praise and thank Him…When my prayers are answered, I am reminded of His goodness and love for me. It stirs the desire of my heart for Him.”

I think one of the keys in truly worshipping God is by simply realizing what He has done for us. He has extended grace even though we were His enemies. He’s forgiven us! He’s made us His very own children. My desire is that this forgiven heart of mine will respond by simply praising Him with my entire life. My prayer is that we all would respond in this way.