We run our website the way we wished the whole internet worked: we provide high quality original content with no ads. We are funded solely by your direct support. Please consider supporting this project.
How Does God Hear All Our Prayers?
Q: At any given moment there are millions of people praying to God. How is it possible for God to pay attention to my little, silent prayer amidst all the chatter?
The reason you or I can only effectively listen to one person at a time is because we only have a limited amount of attention to spread around, due to our limited brain power. If two people are talking to us at the same time, we have to divide our limited attention between the two, which means we can’t attend to either person very effectively. But God does not have limited brain power or limited attention. In fact, he has infinite (unlimited) brain power and attention. Since you can’t fraction infinity (a third of infinity is still infinite), this means that God can listen to each and every one of a trillion people talking to him as though EACH ONE were the ONLY one. He doesn’t have to spread his attention thin to cover all the individual prayers.
So, when you talk to God you rest assured that ALL his attention is on you, as though you were the only person he created. It’s just that, being the great God that he is, the same is true for each of the other million people talking to him at that very same moment.
Category: Q&A
Tags: Christian Life, God, Prayer, Q&A
Topics: Hearing God, Prayer
Related Reading
The God Who Embraces Our Doubt
Lawrence OP via Compfight Zack Hunt over at The American Jesus posted some of his thoughts on doubt, and it seemed fitting on this week before the Doubt, Faith & the Idol of Certainty conference to share what he had to say. We’re thinking he must have stumbled on Greg’s book or maybe God is…
Don’t Miss Out!
See that little sign-up button for our newsletter at the bottom of this page? If you don’t already get the newsletter, you’re going to want to now. You get all kinds of special goodies like book recommendations and exclusive video. This month’s issue (which is set to send on Monday) will include a video of Greg…
What is the significance of Exodus 4:10–16?
Immediately after convincing Moses of his ability to [somehow!] convince the elders of Israel to listen to him, Moses says, “O my Lord, I have never been eloquent…I am slow of speech and slow of tongue” (vs. 10). The Lord reminds him that he is the Creator and is therefore bigger than any speech impediment.…
What is the significance of 1 Samuel 23:9–13?
“David heard that Saul knew that he was hiding in Keliah. Saul was seeking to kill David, so David wisely consulted the Lord as to what he should do. David said, ‘O Lord, the God of Israel, your servant has heard that Saul seeks to come to Keliah, to destroy the city on my account.…
Podcast: If Open Theism is True, Does it Make Sense to Pray For Intercession?
Greg talks about prayer and freedom. Specifically, if free will is so important, why would God override it in answer to prayer? http://traffic.libsyn.com/askgregboyd/Episode_0123.mp3
What is the significance of Jeremiah 32:35?
As in Jeremiah 19:5, the Lord expresses his dismay over Israel’s paganism by saying they did this “though I did not command them, nor did it enter my mind that they should do this abomination.” If this abomination was eternally foreknown to God, it’s impossible to attribute any clear meaning to his confession that this…