Cut Off

In Psalm 5, David gave us an important principle about being in God’s presence.

He wrote, “O God, you take no pleasure in wickedness; you cannot tolerate the sins of the wicked. Therefore, the proud may not stand in your presence, for you hate all who do evil” (verses 4–5 NLT).

When David wrote those words, his son Absalom and his friends had lawlessly driven him from the throne on which God had placed him. Not only that, but Absalom was also hunting him down. David was baring his heart concerning those who had wronged him.

But this also shows us something about prayer, which is that evil will not dwell where God is. We see the same idea in Psalm 66:18, where the psalmist wrote, “If I had not confessed the sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened” (NLT).

So, if we’re starting to pray and know there is something in our lives that isn’t right with God, He will not hear our prayer. He will hear a prayer of repentance and confession, of course. But until we deal with that area of sin in our lives, God will not hear our prayers.

Unconfessed sin can bring our prayer life to a screeching halt.

Speaking to the prophet Isaiah, God said, “Listen! The Lord’s arm is not too weak to save you, nor is his ear too deaf to hear you call. It’s your sins that have cut you off from God. Because of your sins, he has turned away and will not listen anymore” (Isaiah 59:1–2 NLT).

In other words, God was saying, “Make sure you haven’t erected a wall between us called sin. Make sure your life is right before Me.”

If there is sin that needs to be dealt with in your life, then deal with it. Don’t allow it to hinder your prayers.

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