“It shall come to pass in that day that I will answer,” says the Lord; “I will answer the heavens, and they shall answer the earth. The earth shall answer with grain, with new wine, and with oil; they shall answer Jezreel. Then I will sow her for Myself in the earth, and I will have mercy on her who had not obtained mercy; then I will say to those who were not My people,‘ you are My people!’ And they shall say: ‘You are my God!” (Hos.2.21-23 NKJV).
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HOSEA gives us another encouraging word of how God can answer us when we call. God says: “It shall come to pass in that day that I will answer.” Which day is the Lord referring to? It is the day of trouble, the day of need and the day of distress. There comes a day when we are in so much distress and agony that we desperately need God. The background to this statement, “I will answer the Heavens,” is the petitions of his newly married bride, which he cannot deny her petitions. Targum writes: “Men oftentimes hear, and answer not; but when the Lord hears His people, He answers them, and grants them their requests; He is a God, hearing and answering prayers.”

Using the imagery of nature, God illustrates the harmony between his response and the response of creation. When God answers, then there is a sequential response of the heavens and the earth to the production of grain, wine and oil. “I will answer the heavens, and they shall answer the earth. The earth shall answer with grain, with new wine, and with oil; they shall answer Jezreel.”
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God says: “I will answer the heavens…” Here, we see how our blessings and survival are dependent on the heavens. We need the blessings of heaven to survive. Heaven is the seat, the throne room and the abode of God; the heaven is the source of spiritual blessings; a sound came from heaven on Pentecost Day that changed the destiny of the church and of mankind (Acts 2:2); the heaven is the source of God’s physical rain (Lev. 26:4; Deut.28:12; Jere.5:23-24); the heaven is the storehouse of God’s treasure (Deut.28:12); the open door of heaven is a place of revelation (Rev.4:1); Jesus healed a blind man in two stages in two towns. One town had an open heaven, the other had a closed heaven (Mark 8:22-26). Spiritually, environments are different; some places are dense, while some are open. Jesus took the man to a place that was spiritually open

David’s experience in Psalm 18 re-echoes our topic about “the God who answers prayers.” We read this about the response of God to his pleas when he was in serious distress. “I called to the Lord, who is worthy of praise, and I have been saved from my enemies. The cords of the grave coiled around me; the snares of death confronted me. The cords of death entangled me; the torrents of destruction overwhelmed me. In my distress I called to the Lord; I cried to my God for help. From his temple he heard my voice; my cry came before him, into his ears” (Psalm.18.3-6; cf. Psalm 34:4; 118:5 NIV).

When the “cords of the grave,” the “snares and cords of death” and the “torrents of destruction” come threatening, let us remember to call upon God. When the enemies of our soul come raging let us remember that God is near to help us. The God that answered David, will answer you.
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