Paying Attention
“Dad.”… “Dad!”… “Dad!!”… “Bill!” I heard the young girl call out in the crowded room. She was only about 3 years old. She had tried getting her father’s attention. She called 3 or 4 times with no response, but then she figured she would resort to what she knew should surely get his attention. “Bill!” she called, and her father’s head immediately turned toward his little girl.
It was not the first time I had seen this phenomena work. While on a cattle gathering, the man in charge had his young son with him. “Dad,” the young boy called, and the father rode on. “Dad,” he tried again. Finally he hollered, “Mike!” and father turned to his son’s request. Just the other day, in the kitchen, with several women bustling around, someone called out, “Mom”. I must admit, I went about my business. “Mom” rang out again. At last the daughter called the mother’s name, and a startled mother responded, “That’s Mom to you.”
Isn’t it funny how we tune out some things, or get so distracted by the things we are doing that we do not listen? I do not cite these instances to embarrass or criticize these parents and children. I do the same thing. If we are honest, we all find ourselves doing similar “tune outs” and “tune ins”. Aren’t you glad, however, that our Heavenly Father never tunes us out, even when He is really busy? Think about it- He is busy keeping the universe going, and we never have to say, “Heavenly Father… Heavenly Father!… Heavenly Father!!… Yahweh!” At our first call, He is paying attention. God even goes so far as to say that He is listening and paying attention to us BEFORE we call to Him (Isaiah 65:24). Talk about attentiveness! He is paying attention even when we are not!
Through salvation, we have instant access to our Creator and Redeemer, the lover of our souls, 24/7. We do not have to go to a special place, dial a particular number (deal with a busy signal, answering machine, or voice mail) or say a pre-set list of words. We can call out to our God in the middle of the day or night with simple words, a sigh, or even a tear. He hears them all. He knows it is us, and stands ready to help and respond.
I remember the Old Testament account of the prophets of Baal and Elijah (1 Kings 18:20-46). The prophets of Baal called out to him, cried out to him, with no response. They tried calling louder. They tore their clothing and hurt themselves in hopes that their god would pay attention to them. All for nothing. Elijah taunted them that perhaps they should try harder. Perhaps he is sleeping or something, even though Elijah knows that whatever they do, their false god will not, CAN NOT, answer them (1 Kings 18:27).
The True God, however, is nothing like Baal. He is always attentive to His creation. We do not have to try harder, call louder, tear our clothes, our hurt ourselves to get the Almighty God of the universe to pay attention to us. He is so in love with us that He is paying attention to us ALL THE TIME (“I have loved you with an everlasting love.” Jeremiah 31:3).
It truly is great to know that God is only a prayer away. And, the neat thing about that is that it can be a prayer of the heart that is not even audible to anyone else. Call on Him today. Take heart, He is closer than you think… and He wants YOU!