Steven Garofalo
Spirituality/Belief • Education • News
GOD HEARS YOUR CRIES AND ANSWERS YOUR PRAYERS
By Steven Garofalo, (Copyright Steven GarofaloSeptember 15 2023)
September 15, 2023

Do you ever feel as though you pray but God is not hearing your cries?

Today, I am going to to show you in five basic points, through Ecclesiastes 8:5-9 that God hears our cries, but in His infinite wisdom and divine plan-answers our prayers in time. You can be confident that the inequities you and I as believers currently face eventually will be addressed by God in His time…not ours.

I want to assure you that God hears your cries and knows your pain and struggles. You can be confident that in His time, He will show you His will in light of your own ambitions, desires and will. The truth is that as imperfect creatures, you and I often misinterpret God’s pause in responding to our cries as unanswered prayer. Nothing can be further from the truth. God tells us through Psalm 40:1 that: “I waited patiently for the Lord. He inclined to me and heard my cry.” God is “inclined towards us” meaning He is wanting or likely to act-but in His time and according to His divine plan. Let’s be careful to accept the fact that we are to wait upon God-and not God who is to wait upon us. Let’s shift gears and look at Ecclesiastes 8 to better learn how you and I can better wait upon God’s answered prayer.

God tells us this in Ecclesiastes 8:5-9: “Whoever keeps a command will know no evil thing, and the wise heart will know the proper time and the just way. For there is a time and a way for everything, although man's trouble lies heavy on him. For he does not know what is to be, for who can tell him how it will be? No man has power to retain the spirit, or power over the day of death. There is no discharge from war, nor will wickedness deliver those who are given to it. All this I observed while applying my heart to all that is done under the sun, when man had power over man to his hurt” (Ecclesiastes 8:5-9 ESV).

God’s words through King Solomon can be broken down into five basic points which are:

1) FIRST: A wise person’s confidence is that inequities eventually will terminate, and proper judicial decisions will be made for his vindication (vs5). In other words, with all the injustice we see in the news, in our schools, communities, business and world today-we should be CONFIDENT that those inequities will eventually terminate with God’s justice. Remember that. Nobody gets away with doing evil in the long run. It may be after one’s death, but eventually those who propagate these gross injustices will be called to justice.

2) SECOND: You and I as believers are to wait patiently for God’s time of reckoning despite the fact that we cannot know when that time will come (v.7)-despite the fact that we are weighted down with trouble in the meanwhile (v.6). In the mean while means our present present life in this sinful, fallen world. In other words, be patients, it’s just for a little while.

3) THIRD: In the interim, while we wait, we are to be found doing God’s work-serving and worshipping God as opposed to basking in recreation and comfort of our privileged life. Let’s not be caught living life blindly to God’s plan as was the case in Noah’s time, when the Great Flood came.

4) FORTH: Just as one cannot control the time of our death, he or she cannot escape the consequences of their wickedness-despite how small or how powerful they may be in this present world at this moment. Turn on the television and look at the immoral prospering on the backs of the masses and keep in mind that God makes clear that how wealthy and powerful a person may be on this earth-they cannot and will not escape the consequences of their wickedness.

5) FIFTH and LASTLY: Solomon makes clear that God sees and knows of “his hurt” (our hurt) (v.9) at the hands of wicked rulers-the injury of citizens/subjects being ruled by tyrants.

Simply put, you can be confident that the inequities you and I as believers currently face eventually will be addressed by God in His time. As a wise man once told me: “Life is short but eternity is forever”.

IN CLOSING, go back and study these five basic points found in Ecclesiastes 8:5-9. And remember-God hears your cries, but in His infinite wisdom and divine plan-He answers your prayers in His time. In the end, you can be confident that the inequities you and I as believers currently face will eventually be addressed by God in His time.

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Government corruption comes to the advantage of a few-but at the expense of many if not all the rest of society. Today, I am going to show you through Ecclesiastes 5:8-9 that vanity and wealth, if not kept accountable, will devour one’s honor and the honor or the nation in whole. Let’s get started.

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In the Book of Ecclesiastes, chapter 5, verses eight to nine, Solomon says the following:

Ecclesiastes 5:8-9
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BREAK DOWN
Ecclesiastes 5:8-9

THE ABUSE OF AUTHORITY & WEALTH
 “8 If you see in a province the oppression of the poor and the violation of justice and righteousness, do not be amazed at the matter, for the high official is watched by a higher, and there are yet higher ones over them." 

COMMENTARY: Verse 8 clearly illustrates that there is a corruption at every level of government, with higher level oppressors plundering the equally oppressive lower-level magistrates. This perhaps explains the st state of America and the world. With blackmail running. Rampant and the public sector unchecked, they have been robbing the everyday citizen of their hard earned money. As a result, the system became insulated and division between the haves and have nots became more defined. When the high level government officials rob and abuse those below them, someone above that person robs and abuses the higher level person himself.

In America, where we print money out of thin air for the world, in this short period of history, there is little need to plunder those under one authority because there is so much to steal that those in authority can simply pay them off or blackmail them; whichever is most convenient. Either way, Solomon makes abundantly clear that when there is nobody minding the ship, evil perpetuates to the point of overtaking the government in whole. As a result, we end up with a 2024 government, riddles with corruption, immorality, blackmail, lawlessness, and all other things evil due to the lack of God-ness which equates to “goodness”. 

Economically speaking, when this happens to a country, its own economy begins to decline into debt due to their insatiable desire and emotional need for more money and resources. When resources are stripped and money is squandered, the elite few are smart enough to collect those resources and money and we end up with a U.S. Stock Market where only 5% holds up to 80%  of the entire market wealth. 

WHAT IS THE ANSWER?
The answer and solution is to keep to return to the system we created in the first place which is free market capitalism that allows those who desire to work hard, to have a fair chance at success, making money and turning a fair profit. This is called “honor for everyone”.

HONOR FOR EVERYONE
"9 But this is gain for a land in every way: a king committed to cultivated fields.”

CONCLUSION:

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Even a corrupt government is better than anarchy, which devastates a country, it's culture and in Solomon's time, an agrarian economy that would lead to starvation. Keeping to God's ways is the only solution to man's sinful nature; especially in governmental rule. In the end, a king who devotes himself to developing the resources of the land ushers in a systems that brings the opportunity for profit to all, not just the corrupt few.

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EXODUS 9:27-35

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In Genesis 9:27-35, we find Moses coming around towards the very end of all his warnings and plagues on Egypt. After Moses called down dust to create a storm of hail, lightening and fire which killed most of the Egyptian’s servants and livestock, Pharaoh, calls for Moses and tells his this: 

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PHARAOH SEALS HIS OWN FATE WITH A HEART EVEN MORE HARDENED

"34 But when Pharaoh saw that the rain and the hail and the thunder had ceased, he sinned yet again and hardened his heart, he and his servants. 35 So the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, and he did not let the people of Israel go, just as the Lord had spoken through Moses.”

The moral of the story is that the worst we try to lie to God and/or not keep our word in carrying out what we said we would, the worst the judgement of God will eventually be in our own life.

Conclusion

When we tell God we are going to do something, we better do it. Today, I showed you through God’s Word WHY we are not to mess around and lie to God. And this was not the rest of the story. As all know, Pharoah lost his only son for disobeying God to the degree that he did. Let’s think about this very truth and reflect on how we can do better with honoring God and keeping our word in obedience to God in our lives.

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