The God Who Hears Prayer is the Creator
The God who hears prayer is the Creator
Text/ Genesis 1:1-2:3, Psalm 104:1-35, 121:1-8
1. Introduction
Over the past few weeks, we have been praying around the words, “O you who hear prayer, to you all men will come O you who hear prayer, to you all men will come Psalm 65:2” I talked about contemplative prayer). Who is the Lord who hears our prayers over the next few weeks from today? We would like to share the grace while meditating on the offerings of prayer.
2. The God who hears our prayers is the Creator
The first verse of the Old Testament begins with the words “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth”. The first words of the Gospel of John in the New Testament are, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning In the beginnig was “the word” and the Word was with God. , and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning (John 1:1-2).” It is a declaration that God has “sent a word that enables people to be saved!”
If the first words of Genesis are God's physical creation for all things in the world, the first words of John's Gospel are God's spiritual (spiritual) creation for the salvation of this world. In this sense, I think that “God’s creation of the heavens and the earth” has three meanings.
(1) God created “existence-Creatio ex nihilo”.
(2) God has planted order (cosmos) in all things (macro world - micro world - earth's natural world) that He created. All laws discovered by modern science and to be discovered in the future (Laws of celestial motion - Big Bang Theory - Mendel's Law - Remark's Law - Darwin's Theory of Evolution - The Principle of Uncertainty - Plate Theory - Nanotechnology - Magnetic Field - Electric Field - Genetic Engineering - The food chain theory, etc.) is only a part of the creation order that God planted in the creation of the heavens and the earth from the beginning. Psalm 104 is a delicate and moving song about the order God has planted in the heavens and the earth (Reference: New Water 509 of the Word).
(3) God has also planted an order of salvation for everyone in this world. It is to receive Jesus Christ, be baptized, and begin to live a life of faith. Kyungcheon-ae (敬天愛人) - Living a life that loves God and loves neighbors. That is the order God has planted in our lives.
3. What is the grace of God the Creator who hears our prayers?
first. People are 獨不將武 (I can't serve as a general alone). It is a social existence that has no choice but to form relationships as members of family, relatives, friends, coworkers, church, society, and national community. It is an economic existence that requires economic support to live and eat in our daily lives. Not only that, but you have to live with your own spiritual-philosophical-existential-physical frustration-disappointment-anxiety-fear-anxiety-conflict-pain-loneliness-sin problems that others can never solve. It is also a spiritual being.
However, none of these physical-social-economic-spiritual problems that we encounter in all areas of life are better than any of them. I know that each of us who is here right now is secretly agonizing and praying over any one of these issues. No is it?
Therefore, the psalmist said, “I lift up my eyes to the mountains; where will my help come from? My help is from the Lord, who made heaven and earth (Psalm 121:1-2). God, the Creator of the heavens and the earth, hears my prayers and becomes my help - my shield - my strength - on my side. “God is on my side; I have no fear; what can man do to me?” (Psalm 118:6). What a great grace of God the Creator!
second. God the Creator pours “Creative Power” into those who pray. But what we need to know here is that God's creativity and man's creativity are qualitatively different. God’s creation is the creation of something out of nothing, and the creation of man is the creation of the heavens and the earth that God has already created. It is a creation that creates a variety of colorful shapes by stretching-or-reducing, etc. Therefore, man's “creative power” is the ability to change-integrate-converge-consilience what already exists.
For example, John Wenamaker's department store built in a wasteland, the persistence of a church elder who finally obtained permission after searching for permission for a church cemetery more than 200 times. A father who prayed silently in the room, a wife who came to church with her husband's shoes in her arms to evangelize her husband.
third. The power of creation begins to flow out from the Holy of Holies within me when I completely surrender myself to God the Creator. Do you want to live a creative life? Do you feel that the power of creativity is essential to what you are doing?
If so, just pray - silently - in a certain time - in a certain space. “Then, is there an answer? How long do I have to pray? I have something to say to those who ask. “Now, right now, unconditionally! - Just do it now!”