Will Smith and Gene Hackman star in the 1998 movie, Enemy of the State. The concept is that whether you deserve it or not, the Government has immense capabilities to spy on every minute detail of your life. As unnerving as the film was, technology has only grown more sophisticated. Satellites, GPS, cameras, email, smart phones, Alexa, and Siri all can be hacked and monitored. Later there was a hit TV series, Person of Interest, that featured a fictional machine that could intercept all the metadata out there and flag dangerous behavior and situations. in 2013 Edward Snowden leaked classified information revealing our government’s unconstitutional monitoring of private citizens routine phone calls with no specific probable cause. The Government really is like the fictional “Big Brother” in George Orwell’s novel 1984. About a year and a half ago I was involved in a passionate political debate with a ride share customer and I quoted a statistic… all of a sudden my phone interrupts the conversation by saying “Actually the real numbers are...” Not only was my phone listening, it was actively involved in solving a political debate! We would do well to realize that in America there are very few places where we can have private communications any more.
As unnerving as that seems, there is an even more invasive listener than Uncle Sam. You see what ever we say in public, on Facebook, in private texts, even whispered in dark corners of the world, God hears! Let that sink in… there is no privacy setting, no mute, no encryption code that will stop this. Whatever you are saying, the Lord Hears You.
I. The Lord Hears You Murmuring and Complaining
Deuteronomy 1:27 KJV
And ye murmured in your tents, and said, Because the LORD hated us, he hath brought us forth out of the land of Egypt, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us.
Deuteronomy 1:34–36 KJV
And the LORD heard the voice of your words, and was wroth, and sware, saying,
Surely there shall not one of these men of this evil generation see that good land, which I sware to give unto your fathers,
Save Caleb the son of Jephunneh; he shall see it, and to him will I give the land that he hath trodden upon, and to his children, because he hath wholly followed the LORD.
Exodus 16:9 KJV
And Moses spake unto Aaron, Say unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, Come near before the LORD: for he hath heard your murmurings.
Exodus 16:12 KJV
I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel: speak unto them, saying, At even ye shall eat flesh, and in the morning ye shall be filled with bread; and ye shall know that I am the LORD your God.
II. The Lord Hears the Whispers of Bigotry
Numbers 12:1–2 KJV
And Miriam and Aaron spake against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married: for he had married an Ethiopian woman.
And they said, Hath the LORD indeed spoken only by Moses? hath he not spoken also by us? And the LORD heard it.
**The Lord Also Hears When You Need Him**
III. The Lord Hears Cries of Affliction
A. Hagar
Genesis 16:11–12 KJV
And the angel of the LORD said unto her, Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael; because the LORD hath heard thy affliction.
And he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man’s hand against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.
Leah
Genesis 29:31–35 KJV
And when the LORD saw that Leah was hated, he opened her womb: but Rachel was barren.
And Leah conceived, and bare a son, and she called his name Reuben: for she said, Surely the LORD hath looked upon my affliction; now therefore my husband will love me.
And she conceived again, and bare a son; and said, Because the LORD hath heard that I was hated, he hath therefore given me this son also: and she called his name Simeon.
And she conceived again, and bare a son; and said, Now this time will my husband be joined unto me, because I have born him three sons: therefore was his name called Levi.
And she conceived again, and bare a son: and she said, Now will I praise the LORD: therefore she called his name Judah; and left bearing.
B. The People of Israel
Deuteronomy 26:7 KJV
And when we cried unto the LORD God of our fathers, the LORD heard our voice, and looked on our affliction, and our labour, and our oppression:
Exodus 3:7 KJV
And the LORD said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows;
C. His Children
Psalm 18:6 KJV
In my distress I called upon the LORD, And cried unto my God: He heard my voice out of his temple, And my cry came before him, even into his ears.
Psalm 120:1 KJV
In my distress I cried unto the LORD, And he heard me.
Psalm 3:4 KJV
I cried unto the LORD with my voice, And he heard me out of his holy hill. Selah.
Psalm 6:8–9 KJV
Depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity; For the LORD hath heard the voice of my weeping.
The LORD hath heard my supplication; The LORD will receive my prayer.
Psalm 34:4 KJV
I sought the LORD, and he heard me, And delivered me from all my fears.
D. The Lord Hears Our Prayers
Psalm 116:1 KJV
I love the LORD, because he hath heard My voice and my supplications.
1 Peter 3:12 KJV
For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers: but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil.
IV. The Lord Hears Prayers for Healing.
James 5:15–16 KJV
And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.
Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.
1 Kings 17:17–22 KJV
And it came to pass after these things, that the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, fell sick; and his sickness was so sore, that there was no breath left in him.
And she said unto Elijah, What have I to do with thee, O thou man of God? art thou come unto me to call my sin to remembrance, and to slay my son?
And he said unto her, Give me thy son. And he took him out of her bosom, and carried him up into a loft, where he abode, and laid him upon his own bed.
And he cried unto the LORD, and said, O LORD my God, hast thou also brought evil upon the widow with whom I sojourn, by slaying her son?
And he stretched himself upon the child three times, and cried unto the LORD, and said, O LORD my God, I pray thee, let this child’s soul come into him again.
And the LORD heard the voice of Elijah; and the soul of the child came into him again, and he revived.
V. The Lord Hears The Humble
2 Chronicles 33:11–13 KJV
Wherefore the LORD brought upon them the captains of the host of the king of Assyria, which took Manasseh among the thorns, and bound him with fetters, and carried him to Babylon.
And when he was in affliction, he besought the LORD his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers,
And prayed unto him: and he was intreated of him, and heard his supplication, and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the LORD he was God.
Psalm 10:17 KJV
LORD, thou hast heard the desire of the humble: Thou wilt prepare their heart, thou wilt cause thine ear to hear:
Jonah 2:2 KJV
And said, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the LORD, and he heard me; Out of the belly of hell cried I, and thou heardest my voice.
It is sobering to realize that someone may be on the other side of our smart TV listening and watching what we do as a family. It is maddening to realize that in spite of guaranteed 4th amendment protection from random search and seizure, Big Brother is constantly encroaching on our freedom. It should be more sobering to realize that every word you spoke against your brother or sister in private gossip was not private. It should be empowering that when you whisper a prayer of supplication, a cry for help in the shadows of life, or a statement of humble surrender…God is about to take action because the Lord is Listening!
