Prayer, with Bible reading, is a conversation with God. But sometimes it seems that God isn’t listening to our prayers. Is this an illusion of our lack of faith, or is perhaps God not really listening? The Bible sometimes talks about God not hearing prayers, but how does this work for an omniscient God–isn’t it impossible for him not to hear everything everyone is saying, whether to him or anyone else? The key is in the way the Hebrew language uses the word for “hear”. It doesn’t just mean receiving the audible sensation of sound; it means listening to and responding to something someone says. So, when the Bible says God does not hear the prayers of those who are opposed to him, it means he won’t respond to them.

But for Christians, whether or not we feel like God hears and responds to our prayers or not, he does. He wants a relationship with us, and promises always to communicate with us.

Hosts: Aaron Mueller and Chuck Rathert

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One of the reasons Jesus called himself the Son of Man is the name’s vagueness. The title can simply mean “human”; this is the way the prophet Ezekiel seems to be using it during the many times he refers to himself in this way.

There is no possible way this seemingly innocuous usage could land Jesus in trouble with the authorities. But on the other hand, the title “Son of Man” probably mainly refers to a very important prophecy in Daniel 7, where one “like a son of man” comes and stands before God, and God gives him dominion and power so that all the nations serve him - a kingdom that will never pass away.

This strange personage is a human (“like a son of man”) but is also worshiped (“all peoples…should serve him”). Jesus knows that he is truly human, but he uses the title Son of Man to emphasize that he is more than that - he is also the one true God who is worthy of worship.

Hosts: Aaron Mueller and Chuck Rathert

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Because love is not primarily an emotional disposition toward someone else but is instead about self-sacrificial actions, trust is baked into such a relationship. We come to know and love someone precisely by trusting in that person enough to get close enough to live in intimacy with them.

This sort of relationship intentionally reflects the inner life of the Trinity, where the three persons of the divine Oneness completely love and trust each other. Unfortunately, in human relationships, sometimes the sin which colors any relationship mars the trust which maybe once defined a relationship. The love might be there, but in such a case the trust has been damaged. This should, however, be seen as a weird, suspended state of a broken relationship, with the goal to be restoring the trust which makes the loving relationships whole again. The model for this is Jesus, who loved us so much he won our trust in him.

Hosts: Aaron Mueller and Chuck Rathert

Subscribe to the show at https://cacg.saintjamesglencarbon.org.

To comment on this episode, visit https://saintjamesglencarbon.org/cacg-ep113.