I Have Seen Your Tears

Isaiah 38:1-5 (NASB)
¹  In those days Hezekiah became mortally ill. And Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came to him and said to him, "Thus says the LORD, 'Set your house in order, for you shall die and not live.'"
²  Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the LORD,
³  and said, "Remember now, O LORD, I beseech You, how I have walked before You in truth and with a whole heart, and have done what is good in Your sight." And Hezekiah wept bitterly.
⁴  Then the word of the LORD came to Isaiah, saying,
⁵  "Go and say to Hezekiah, 'Thus says the LORD, the God of your father David, "I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; behold, I will add fifteen years to your life.  

I believe there are different levels of prayer. The heavier the burden, the greater the need, the bigger the mountain, the higher level of praying is needed. 

Hezekiah was about to die. Isaiah sent on mission for God delivered the sobering news, "Set your house in order for you shall die and not live." 

Hezekiah in desperation prayed. He did more than pray. He prayed with tears. His tears must have meant something to God for He stopped Isaiah and sent him back with a new message, "I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; behold, I will add fifteen years to your life."

Did you catch that. God heard his prayers. God also saw his tears. Hezekiah watered his prayer with tears. It is like the tears served as a fertilizer to make his prayers more potent and fruitful.

When is the last time you heard anyone pray with tears during a worship service? When is the last time you heard anyone pray in tears during a prayer meeting? Furthermore, when is the last time you prayed in tears?

While I don't profess to understand prayer fully, I do believe tears and brokenness moves God to action more than dry eyed prayers alone. I am not talking about fake crocodile tears. I am not talking about putting on an academy award winning performance to impress people with tearful praying. I am talking about truly broken, desperate, fervent tearful prayers because there is no other hope.

Hannah's tearful praying moved God to conceive young Samuel in her womb after she had been barren for years. Those who sow seed in tears come harvest with joyful shouting. That has always spoken to me about praying with brokenness over lost people around us.

There is way too much tearless praying and tearless preaching going on these days. Is it any wonder we do not often see the miraculous.

I have to confess, though I carry many heavy burdens for people, I have not shed a tear in a long long while. It is like my tears are broken. The pains are so deep and many burdens have weighed on me for so long that the tears no longer come. Do I dare ask God to return them? Do I dare ask God to unstop the dam and let the torrent of tears flow again?

I remember a season when I could barely pray at all without tears. It came after an eventful night when I truly asked God to break my heart. I pleaded with Him to let me feel what He felt. I asked Him to share His burden with me. Suddenly I felt deep sorrow and I began sobbing uncontrollably. The burden intensified and so did the tears. I could not get a grip. I felt like a weight was sitting on my chest making it difficult to breathe. Eventually I pleaded with God to relieve the burden for I could stand under it.

Since that day I recall many tearful prayer times. One at ETBU in a youth camp. One on my living room floor in Hudson, TX. Another in my office at FBC Paradise. One during the Shake The City Revival in Seminole during the service when I had no word from God and knelt at the altar. Another in a front pew in Seminole during a Sunday evening service when overcome with the majesty of God during worship. Repeatedly in my home over a beloved brother in Christ straying from the Lord. Multiple times over my wife and children. So many for Faith Community Church I cannot count them.

 If I want the highest level of praying that is precisely what I need to do. I need to ask God to break my heart and give me  tears in praying again. I need to wet the floor with tear drops as I intercede for those I love. I need to be moved in brokenness in prayer once again.  What about you?