"Before they call I will answer." So begins Isaiah 65:24, where the prophet expounds about life in the new heavens and new earth. What a promise!
In this life, the Christian approaches God boldly, faithfully, always confident that God hears. In the gospel is the guarantee that Jesus Christ is our mediator. He has granted access to the throne of God and given us the conviction that God's ears are open, and he is eager to give good gifts to his children.
And yet, in this life, there are times when we feel no response. There are times when we have to remember that generations of God's people languished in slavery in Egypt. Another generation wandered in the wilderness knowing that they would not reach the promised land. Hundreds of years passed between the prophets and the Messiah's birth. During those years true believers cried out to the Lord for help, but God was silent.
In Christ, the silence is over. The Word has come. God has spoken to his people. And yet, the thorns of this world remain. We speak to God, we pray--often only to receive God's discipline. His discipline is love, yes, and demanding.
But a day is coming, says Isaiah, when God will hear us even before we call. God's people will interact with their Maker in a world without sin. Our communion with the Lord will be uninterrupted. Every Christian will experience God's perfect presence. As Alec Motyer put it, in the new heavens and the new earth, God is more than just attentive to the people of God, "there is such a oneness with the Lord that he anticipates their needs with his constant provident watchfulness for their good."
Take heart, Christian. God hears you now and chooses, in his wisdom, to let you persist in the trials you face because he knows that the path you are on is the right one. But a day will come when the trials you face and the distance you sometimes feel between you and God is no more. On that day, before you call, He will answer.
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