Bulletin Articles: Full Article for Record Number 1022
"I Have Seen Thy Tears"
by Larry Ray Hafley
God had told Hezekiah, "Set thine house in order; for thou shalt die, and not live." Hezekiah prayed fervently wept greatly. Then, God said, "I have seen thy tears," and gave him fifteen more years of life (2 Kgs. 20:1-6).
He is the God of all compassion (2 Cor. 1). He knows when a sparrow falls dead to the earth. He is aware of our pain; he knows how we hurt. He sees our tears. In despair, David pled with the Lord to "Be merciful...for man would swallow me up....Every day they wrest my words: all their thoughts are against me for evil." Under such distress and pressure, tears flowed freely. David asked the Lord to "put...my tears into thy bottle."
How sweet and sensitive is that request! How close does David feel toward his God! What a comfort it is to know that God sees our tears and that, in a tender figure of love, he puts them into his bottle. Such deep, personal care does that reveal! How comforting the thought that when we suffer, when our hearts are bleeding and pleading for grace and mercy, that the God of Eternity, our Creator, Savior, and Judge, is storing our grief and preparing his heavenly relief, both here and forever. He will not forget. He has seen our tears and captured them in his bottle.
Let us rest in that as we allow the peace of God to rule in our hearts.
