Does God hear the prayers of sinners?

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I’m often asked if God hears the prayers of a sinner. Well, if he doesn’t, all of us are in a miserable state—for as the apostle Paul noted, we all, being sinners, fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). This question typically arises when people read certain isolated scriptures and then apply a hyper-literalist interpretation. For example, notice Proverbs 28:9 (NKJV): “One who turns away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer is an abomination.” This sounds rather ominous, doesn’t it?

But to properly understand this verse there are two things to keep in mind. First, in the parlance of the Old Testament, “to hear” means putting the message into practice in one’s life. Second, “abomination” is a reference to something so unclean that it can never come into God’s presence. Thus, this verse is making a point about those who pray to God while intentionally, even contemptuously, disobeying him. It is not referring to a humble person who, despite being a sinner, is sincerely seeking God’s help.

Another example is John 9:31: “We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly person who does his will.” But notice that Jesus did not speak these words. They were spoken by a man Jesus had healed of blindness, who was then examined by a group of Pharisees looking to trap Jesus. The man who had been healed cleverly used their own twisted theology to trap them. Sadly, some still misinterpret scriptures like this to keep themselves and others on a guilt trip, which is contrary to the wonderful truth of God’s true character.

It is always important to remember that Jesus is the lens through which we should read and interpret the Bible. Doing so helps us keep clearly in focus both who God is and what he is doing. We know that God sent his Son into the world not to condemn it, but to save it. We also know that Christ died while we were yet sinners. Scripture tells us that the life, death, resurrection and ascension of our Savior brought into action the new covenant. With that “Christ event,” everything changed: all humanity was forgiven and reconciled to the Father (though not all realize it, and, sadly, some reject it).

It is ludicrous to think that God, having given his Son to die for us (sinners all), would turn around and refuse to hear our prayers because we are sinners!

Jesus’ parable in Luke 18:11-14 shows how God regards the prayers of sinners. In the parable, a Pharisee stood off by himself (separate from “sinners”) praying: “God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.” In contrast, this despised tax collector (considered in that culture to be a terrible sinner), stood with eyes downcast, beating his breast in sorrow, praying these words: “God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” Jesus’ conclusion was this: “I tell you that this man [the sinning tax collector], rather than the other [the supposedly righteous Pharisee], went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

We should not forget that God is constantly aware of every detail of his creation. Being omnipresent, he is able to hear every syllable of every word of every conversation, and even of every unspoken thought. He hears what sinners are saying, even if they aren’t praying to him. So we can be certain that he does not miss a single prayer. Notice Psalm 56:8 (NLT): “You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book.”

How can God process so many prayers at one time? Again, a reasonable question from limited humans who have trouble sometimes even keeping track of three or four things at a time. But the astonishing advances in computer technology give us some insight into just how much information can be managed simultaneously.

Do you remember when home computers were a luxury, just 25 years ago? Although regarded then with almost superstitious awe, they were slow and cumbersome by our standards today when the speed of the fastest computers is measured in terms we weren’t even aware of less than ten years ago. Today computer speed is measured in PFLOPS (quadrillion operations per second). Speed like that is unfathomable for the average person. Nevertheless, a supercomputer is still only the product of human ingenuity. God is far greater.

Even a fairly simple computer can process more than a trillion instructions a second. Given a world population far below 1 trillion, it’s theoretically possible that a computer could “hear” everyone on earth praying. I think we would all agree that our creator God, who is not subject to the limitations of a created being, is much more than a match for our fastest computer. Perhaps this comparison helps us understand how God can “process” all the data about humanity, even to the extent of knowing the number of hairs on our heads (about 100,000 on the average head!).

The bottom line is this: God does hear our prayers—all of them. He is never too busy to listen and never too busy to respond. As the Psalmist wrote: “God has surely listened and has heard my prayer. Praise be to God, who has not rejected my prayer or withheld his love from me!” (Psalm 66:19-20).

Unlike a supercomputer designed simply to process instructions, God’s desire is to build up and be in relationship with all his children. Part of that relationship is never being too busy to hear or to answer our prayers. Even if we are sinners.

Your brother in Christ,