I was taken aback the other day during a morning turkey hunt. The rain had persisted all night and into the early morning hours. It wasn’t until about 8:30 that the sun broke through the clouds. It seemed every living thing had been waiting with anticipation for that hour. The rain had allowed the early risers to sleep in, but the sun sounded the alarm for all to get up. The sounds that morning were too numerous to describe. Each creature began its communication without waiting its turn. It sounded like one big cacophony without having any rhyme or reason. I didn’t notice that morning how each sound was different, but how closely each sounded like the other. Sometimes the cadences were different, but the pitch was nearly identical. And I wondered how each hearer was able to distinguish between its kind and another kind and even how each could tell the differences of their own kind. Then I thought about God.
I wonder how many folks bowed their head to pray this morning. People from Maine to Montana; from New Mexico to North Carolina; and from Connecticut to California. And I wonder how many in other countries did the same – all speaking to God, at the same time but in different languages. I wonder how God sorts them all out. It really is amazing how God can not only hear all of us at the same time, but he does not miss one utterance of despair, one urgent cry for help, or one uplifted plea for direction. He is not only our God, but he is your God. He is not only our God, but also my God. Just as I don’t understand how nature works in perfect order and design, I also don’t understand how God can make perfect order out of every single prayer that goes up. But I believe it by faith. The Bible declares how a sparrow doesn’t fall to the ground without him noticing. When I remember that, I have no problem knowing that even though millions of prayers are knocking on the doors of heaven, God will distinguish each of us as his special and unique child and will be equally excited to hear from us and to give us his very best.
Gary Miller