" I have seen your tears. "

Amanda has a passage of scripture that she has been reading and giving considerable thought. It is found in 2 Kings 20: 1-5. Hezekiah became very ill and was told by the prophet Isaiah that he would soon die. But then Hezekiah prayed to the Lord, "Remember now, O Lord, I pray, how I have walked before You in truth and with a loyal heart, and have done what was good in Your sight." The Lord then responds to this prayer, and says again through the prophet Isaiah, "I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; surely I will heal you."

It has occurred to me that even God must be very close to see one's tears. We often say and accept the idea of our prayers "being lifted up to heaven," wherever that is and however that process is facilitated by the Spirit of God ... we don't actually know ... we just believe that according to the Bible it is so. Accordingly, what would be silent prayers to us, still yet have some vehicle by which they are heard through the Holy Spirit by a God that we sometimes feel is far away. In the most human sense, we don't always think of God being very close, or that He need be, when we pray. Somehow, our prayers will be delivered. Even in the most earthly sense, the audible sound of a prayer can be heard for some distance.

But to see one's tears requires a special closeness. I can hear you from afar, but I can only see and wipe your tears if I am close ... so close, that my spirit actually finds a way to share your pain, or joy ... whatever the case may be. Even as a mortal man, I can watch you from a great distance and get some sense of your demeanor and attitude. But to see your tears, I must be near. To see your tears, I am close enough to touch you. To see your tears, I am close enough to hold your hand. To see your tears, I am close enough to catch you should you stumble and begin to fall. To see your tears, I am close enough to help you up ... or ... to see your tears, I am close enough to lie down with you.

In the passage of scripture, when God says, "I have heard your prayer," I think that is nice. But I assume that God hears lots of prayers, and doesn't always do with them what we might like at the time. But for God to say, "I have seen your tears; surely I will heal you," it says so much more to me than it otherwise might have. I'm certainly no theologian, but in my mind I have this picture of God hearing prayers from anywhere and everywhere ... but when God says, "I have seen your tears," it is His special way of saying, "I am very close. I am very near. I am right here beside you. This is holy ground."

Amanda, God has seen your tears.

I love you,
dad