"Because He Bends Down To Listen..."

I'm a mom.  I have three precious, precocious little ones under the age of five.  What does that mean?  Well, my days are filled with screaming, crying, whining, and shouts of "MINE!" and "She's touching me!"  Don't get me wrong.  My days are also filled with giggles, songs, chants of "I love you, Mama", and lots of snuggles.  But the screams?  They happen daily. (I have a two year old.)

As my husband and I have grown in parenting knowledge and experience, we've figured out what those screams and cries mean.  We can usually tell the difference between the "I want that!" scream and the "I'm hurt!" scream.  Sometimes we ignore the former.  Why?  Well for two reasons: 1.) We want our kids to learn to work some of those things out for themselves, and 2.) If we got up for every scream we'd never sit down. (Have I mentioned that we have a two year old?)

One thing our kids know is this: if something's really wrong; if they are hurt or scared, Mama and Daddy will come running - right away, without hesitation - to find out what's wrong.  But its hard to get a two year old or a four year old to verbalize what's wrong when they're sobbing - or screaming - so what do we do?  Probably the same thing you do: we bend down and put an arm around them or one of us will sit down and place them in our lap.  Then we softly try to calm their cries and give them a safe place to voice their pain or fear.  Did you know that's just what God does too!?!

Psalm 116:2 (in the KJV) says,

"Because he hath inclined his ear unto me, 

therefore will I call upon him as long as I live."

But there's another translation of this verse that REALLY brings God's fatherly love into full light. The New Living Translation says,

"Because he bends down to listen,    

I will pray as long as I have breath!"

"Because He bends down to listen..."  Did you see that!?!  God isn't disinterested or half-hearted.  He loves you as a father loves their child - because you ARE His child!  So when you're in pain; when you're hurting or scared, He bends down.  He comes down close to you and listens.  He takes time to comfort you and gives you a safe place to voice your pain or fear.  He bends down to listen.  What an AWESOME Heavenly Father we have!  And oh how He loves us!!!

"So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, “Abba, Father.” - Ro. 8:15 (NLT)