God Still Does Analog

Because He has inclined His ear to me, therefore I will call upon Him as long as I live. Psalm 116:2

My childhood was significantly analog. We had grandfather clocks, which rang up a din in the morning; radios that had a dial for manually tuning into the frequency of your favourite station; and TVs with antennae that you took turns to rotate to catch clear signals while your siblings shout out directions from the living room: “This way. No that way. Rotate it small. Oya small again.” Unlike the digital devices we have now, you had to have your antennae inclined to just the right angle, or rotate the Fine-Tune dial ever so delicately to get clear signals.

God’s inclination is however not just the mere ‘physical’ turning; it is instead a deeper matter of his disposition toward us. As a father, God is generally disposed, (inclined if you like) toward listening to us.

God apparently still does analog. The psalmist writes here of God inclining (as it were to the perfect angle) his ears to listen to us. It is like setting the dial of your radio in a permanent position. Picture God turning his ears in the perfect angle to hear your prayers, and then saying  (like a radio DJ might) to everyone  – “don’t touch that dial!”

God’s inclination is however not just the mere ‘physical’ turning; it is instead a deeper matter of his disposition toward us. As a father, God is generally disposed, (inclined if you like) toward listening to us. This is what it means when He says: “I will answer them before they even call to me. While they are still talking to me about their needs, I will go ahead and answer their prayers!” (Isaiah 65:24).

To borrow the exclamation of Paul the apostle, “what shall we say to these things?” Much more than what we shall say, what shall we do about the fact that God is predisposed to listening to us? Oh! “We will call upon him as long as we live” for “The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon him, to all that call upon him in truth.” (Psalm 145:18)

Prayer

Dear father, I feel so blessed by the knowledge that you are always available to hear my call. Please help me make full use of the access that you have granted to me.