Good news! You can listen to this post on the Keep On With Abigail Wallace podcast.
The theater shall go unnamed. But what happened there, just before the 6:40 showing of Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning, shall not. Because that night, I learned the magic words.
It was an accident. The cashier wasn’t trying to help me love the Lord. But in a strange way, with that large buttery tub of popcorn, she did.
Make that, large real buttery tub of popcorn.
A true Wisconsin dairy girl, I ordered a tub of buttered popcorn. I had a son and a husband to share with and the show was long. A young man filled the striped tub, then dispensed the liquid gold. As the butter flowed, I engaged the cashier,
“Wow! The menu says real butter. You actually use real butter, huh?”
Instantly the butter stream stopped. Somehow my words had hit pause. Tom Cruise would wait.
The teen holding the tub raised his eyebrows and turned to the cashier.
“Dump it,” she directed with the slightest of nods.
Clandestinely, he did. He quickly refilled the tub, and went to a different spigot of liquid gold. I was privy to what appeared to be an undercover, theater concession mafia deal.
Then I understood.
“Real butter” were the magic words. Unwittingly I had uttered the code words, the phrase that unlocked the “real butter.” The first, the cashier confirmed, was a butter-flavored topping.
But why, you ask, does this real butter incident make me love God more? I’ll explain.
But first, I’ll share a few more magic words I’ve learned over the years.
Magic Words
The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth.
Psalm 145:18 (ESV)
I learned my first magic words in second grade. I think it was on the playground, as I was being pushed around the merry-go-round to the point of nausea, that I learned those words.
“Stop pushing me,” wasn’t enough.
“Please stop, I might throw up,” wasn’t either.
Finally, Jessica had a heart and whispered, “You need sugar and a cherry on top.”
“Pretty please with sugar and a cherry on top” I begged with my eyes clenched and my stomach churning.
It worked.
I didn’t think about magic words again until a few years ago.
More Magic Words
On the day I called, you answered me; my strength of soul you increased.
Psalm 138:3 (ESV)
My husband had been on the phone with a customer service agent, trying to cancel a subscription. As Jim and the agent went around in circles, my blood pressure was rising.
How many times, in how many ways could he possibly say it?
“I didn’t sign up for this.”
“I don’t want a subscription.
“I’d like to cancel my subscription.”
Between iterations, the agent would say, “Is there anything else I can assist you with?”
But she would not confirm the membership was canceled.
Exasperated, Jim finally said, “I did not authorize this payment.”
That was it. The glass slipper. The winning ticket. The lucky key.
“Your subscription has been cancelled, Mr. Wallace. Expect a refund within seven days.”
Unwittingly, Jim had hit upon the magic words: “I did not authorize this payment.”
Subscription cancelled. Done.
I Love the Lord Because He Heard My Voice
I love the LORD, because he has heard my voice and my pleas for mercy.
Psalm 116:1 (ESV)
With no magic words, he heard. God hears my prayers, and I love him for it. It is not base or mercenary to love God more because of this kindness.
We love because he first loved us, and we love him more because he keeps loving us. And one of the ways that we experience God’s love is when he hears and answers our prayers.
In a sermon on Psalm 116, the great British preacher Charles Haddon Spurgeon said,
“The Psalmist not only knows that he loves God, but he knows why he does so. When love can justify itself with a reason, it is deep, strong, and abiding.”
In other words, love is not blind. Biblically speaking, it is not more virtuous to love God without reason. Rather, eyes that seek and find God’s goodness deepen our love for him.
So here I will proclaim it:
I love the Lord because he condescends to hear, and to help.
And I love the Lord because he bends his ear to me, without demanding magic words.
I love the Lord because he hears my voice, and answers prayer.
This month is my annual reminder that God hears prayers. For it was it was in one June that the one child of my womb was born.
5 Psalms That Assure Us That God Hears Our Prayers
The Bible, and the Psalms in particular, are replete with assurance that God hears his children’s prayers. These five are a great encouragement to me.
- When the righteous cry for help, the LORD hears and delivers them out of all their troubles. Psalm 34:17
- For he has not despised or scorned the suffering of the afflicted one; he has not hidden his face from him, but has listened to his cry for help. Psalm 22:24
- As for me, I call to God, and the Lord saves me; morning and noon I cry out in distress, and he hears my voice. Psalm 55:16-17
- When he calls to me, I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; will rescue him and honor him. Psalm 91:15
- “O LORD, You have heard the desire of the humble; You will strengthen their heart, You will incline Your ear.” Psalm 10:17
This is just a taste. If you’d like to go deeper, I recommend Lauren Iseli’s Planted in the Psalms podcast. You can access her verse by verse commentary on Psalms 1-58 here.
Over and over and over again, in so many circumstances and in so many ways, the psalm writers express their trust that God hears their prayers, however they come, without magic words.
No Magic Words With God
Thankfully, there are no magic words with God. God himself is a clear communicator. As his image bearers he call us to simply let our yes be yes. He neither commends fancy words, nor a flourish of many words—in order to impress, or in an attempt to find the magic ones.
God neither commends fancy words, nor a flourish of many words in order to impress him, or in an attempt to find the magic ones.
In fact, just before Jesus taught his disciples how to pray, he said,
And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
Friends, if you are in Christ, you already have God’s ear. He wants you to pray. Even though he knows what you need even before you ask.
The Lord hears the humble (Psalm 10:17). He does not listen to those who cherish sin (Psalm 66:18). But there’s no secret formula. There are no magic words with God.
And don’t you love the Lord more because of it?
I love the LORD,
Psalm 116:1 (ESV)
because he has heard my voice and my pleas for mercy.
All praise to God, He doesn’t play games with us but loves in sincerity.
You said it right there, and hallelujah!
No games. All grace and truth.
“Friends, if you are in Christ, you already have God’s ear.”
A good reminder that we not only don’t need to pray by formula, but that God’s attention never falters whether we are paying attention or not. That’s what being held means.
Exactly. 👍 No magic formula, but known, held, heard.
Thanks, friend.