Does God Blink?

Written by

Christopher Mentzer

I’ve been teaching my children how to pray, primarily before eating a meal. The prayer is a simple one of thanks. This is the prayer they usually say:

Heavenly Father

Kind and Good

Thank You for our Food.

Amen

As I said, simple. One day before lunch, Sara, my oldest daughter (almost 5 yrs.) offered to pray. She used the prayer above and this is how it sounded:

“HeavenlyFatherkindandgoodthankyouforourfoodAmen.” The first thought that entered my mind was did God get a chance to even hear that? A second after she started she was done. Perhaps God blinked and missed the prayer. Obviously that’s not true. Consider these scriptures:

God is all knowing and seeing. “Talk no more so exceeding proudly; Let not arrogancy come out of your mouth; For Jehovah is a God of knowledge, And by him actions are weighed.” 1Sam. 2: 3

God is always present. “Can any hide himself in secret places so that I shall not see him? Saith Jehovah. Do not I fill heaven and earth? Saith Jehovah.” Jer. 23: 24

God is All-powerful. “And Jesus looking upon `them' said to them, ‘With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible’.” Matt. 19: 26

God is Eternal. “Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, `be' honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.” 1 Tim. 1: 17

And with God everywhere, it doesn’t matter where we are when we pray, our prayers will be heard. “Whither shall I go from thy Spirit? Or whither shall I flee from thy presence? 8. If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, thou art there. 9. If I take the wings of the morning, And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; 10. Even there shall thy hand lead me, And thy right hand shall hold me.” Ps.139: 7-10.

A good example of this is Jonah. When Jonah was thrown overboard from the ship a great fish swallowed him whole (1: 15-17). He prayed from the belly of the fish, “2. And he said, I called by reason of mine affliction unto Jehovah, And he answered me; Out of the belly of Sheol cried I, `And' thou heardest my voice. 3. For thou didst cast me into the depth, in the heart of the seas, And the flood was round about me; All thy waves and thy billows passed over me. 4. And I said, I am cast out from before thine eyes; Yet I will look again toward thy holy temple.” (2: 2-4) Jonah’s prayer was heard and he was freed from the fish.

Just from these verses we can see that God is aware of everything and everyone all at once. For a human, that’s incredibly difficult to grasp such a concept. We must remember though that God is not like us, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith Jehovah. 9. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.” Isa. 55: 8-9 Instead we are created based on Him, “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness…” Gen. 1: 26

With this in mind we know that God hears prayers no matter how short or how fast, just as long as we mean what we pray, “And in praying use not vain repetitions, as the Gentiles do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. 8. Be not therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.” Matt. 6: 7-8 “The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.” Jas. 5:16 (KJV)