Psalm 145: 17 The LORD is just in all his ways, and kind in all his doings. 18 The LORD is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth. 19 He fulfills the desire of all who fear him; he also hears their cry, and saves them. 

The part that got my attention this morning is in v.18 “The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth.” What does that it to call on the Lord “in truth”? I did a little word study on the Hebrew word translated here as “in truth”. The word is “emet” which can also mean “with faith”. In other words, to call on the Lord in truth is to have faith that God can and will respond to the prayer. There’s no special formula required here. The simple act of prayer is a demonstration of faith, even if it’s a very small amount of faith. Jesus said that if we have the faith of a tiny mustard seed, God would respond with power to move mountains.

This is a gift for me today because sometimes prayer is hard for me. I start to doubt when my prayers appear to go unanswered. I wonder if somehow I’m doing it wrong. Or if God is listening. But the words of the psalmist today contain no qualifiers. It says that Lord is near to ALL who call on him. So today I’ll keep that in mind as I pray. I can trust that I won’t be excluded from God due to a technicality, or doing it wrong, or having too little faith.

Lord, listen to your children praying. Amen.