Earth and Heav'n be One

Things don’t always go right. At some point, things will most assuredly go wrong. Count on it. It is in these moments that we are most likely to cry out to God. And often, it feels that He is far away.

If you are a person who prays, then you have had the experience of wondering at times if you are merely talking to yourself. The presence of God is not obvious, and you feel as though your prayers are ascending only so far as the ceiling above you. This is not unusual. It is a test of faith. In this moment of need, you question if there is really a God who hears and cares and answers prayer. And then, we affirm that yes, based on the rock-solid promises of God found in His Word, and perhaps from personal experience as well, we believe that God, wherever He is, hears our prayer. 

David’s “Deliverance Psalm” is found in 2 Samuel 22 and again in Psalm 18. I love the early, simple sections about prayer. First, in verse 4, David says, “I call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised, and I am saved from my enemies.” It’s a statement of fact; not necessarily cause and effect, but a practice (prayer) and performance (God’s deliverance, at different times and using different means). It is a statement of confidence.

But then David goes on in vv. 5,6 to describe vividly the trouble he is facing - waves and torrents; cords and snares, threatening death. He comes back to prayer in verse 7, saying, “In my distress, I called upon the Lord. To my God I called.” The last half of verse 7 is golden: “From His temple He heard my voice; my cry came to His ears.” Yes, your cry makes it all the way from the deepest, darkest corner and flies the distance through the gates of heaven into His holy temple and enters His ear. Prayer conquers the distance.

The Lord’s Prayer admits to the problem of distance: “Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.” In heaven, everything works. Glory, justice, joy … Not so here on earth. And yet, we want God to institute His will here on earth, so far from heaven, and we try to practice His will ourselves, often unsuccessfully.

The old hymn “This Is My Father’s World” reminds us that “though the wrong be oft so strong, God is the ruler yet,” and “Jesus who died will be satisfied, and earth and heaven be one.” One day the gulf between heaven and earth will be collapsed. One day, we will talk to Jesus face to face. Today, we pray, by faith. And we will continue to do so, though many may think we are only talking to ourselves.