"Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness! Thou hast relieved me in my distress; be gracious to me and hear my prayer. O sons of men, how long will my honour become a reproach? How long will you love what is worthless and aim at deception? But know that the Lord has set apart the godly mane for Himself; the Lord hears when I call to him." ~NASB
I love the emotion seen in David's writing. It reminds us that God loves us and all of our humanness. Even in our anger and pain, God loves when we cry out to Him. He has promised to answer when we call, but we have to call first. It kind of seems silly that David would seem to direct or command God, but I think he is reminding himself of God's promise and His faithfulness more than he's trying to command God. I sometimes struggle with the same thing, remembering that God has always been and always will be faithful. That He will always give me an answer to my prayers. Sometimes the answer is no, and sometimes He asks that I wait for His answer, but it _always_ comes eventually.
In the last part of this passage, David speaks to the general public. People are speaking of that which David considers an honour (I'm guessing his faith in the Lord) as a mockery or as something reproachful. The people give their hearts to worthless and empty things, and they seek lies and deception. Not much has changed since David's time, especially people giving their hearts to vain, or empty, things. We tend to place emphasis on things that just aren't important, and without the reminder of God's love and His word to us, we wouldn't realize what is truly important. God knows those who love Him and strive to obey Him, and He always listens when we speak to Him. I looked up the definition of listen and hear in this context, and found that it means to listen with interest or to grant requests. Our prayers to God don't go in one ear and out the other, and He doesn't listen because He has to. He listens because he wants to, because we are truly important to Him.
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