LIVING WORD DEVOTIONAL
_By Pastor Mensa Otabil_
 
Wednesday 17th June 2026

GOD HEARS YOUR VOICE

Scripture Reading:* Psalm 3
 
I cried to the Lord with my voice, And He heard me from His holy hill. Selah *Psalm 3:4
 
With all the storms raging around him, David turned to the Lord. He took his cares to the Lord, ‘I cried to the Lord with my voice, and He heard me…’
 
The word rendered as ‘cried’ means to call out with a loud voice. David called out to God from the depths of his being. You get the impression that the prayer of David was not a formal, ceremonial prayer. It was intense, passionate, and heartfelt. David’s prayer was not quiet. It was a loud and boisterous vocal expression to God. David cried with his voice. He made a sound from his heart that only God could hear and understand.
 
When enemies surround you, surround the throne of God with prayer. Many times, when people come against us on every side, we become disoriented. Unable to decide what to do, some turn away from God altogether. However, if there is a time to really turn to the Lord, it is that time when you have nowhere else to turn.
 
That was David’s secret. He knew how to turn to the Lord when he was in a fix. Often in the Psalms, he would talk about going into the sanctuary to seek the Lord in times of trouble. David cried, but his cry was to the Lord. He did not cry before his enemies. Neither did he cry before those who could not be of help to him.
 
There’s a lesson here for all of us, not to advertise our sorrows to the whole world. By all means, share your prayer concerns with a trusted prayer partner. But don’t go around telling everyone about how bad things are for you.
 
In verse 4, David uses the second ‘selah’ of this Psalm. This ‘selah’ occurs after David expressed confidence that the Lord had heard his cry. What can we learn from that? We learn that after we have cried to the Lord, we must leave His presence with peace in our hearts.
When we pray, we must believe that God has heard us. And if we believe that God has heard us, then we must be assured that He would take care of the situation bothering us. That is how faith works. Having been assured that the Lord is in control, we must have peace – selah – in our hearts.
 
Prayer:

Heavenly Father, I lift up my heart and voice to you today. Thank you for hearing the voice of my supplication. In Jesus’ name, Amen._