Summer
1981
Tears of Intercession
Diane Dew
Pinecrest Graduate
“The Bible was written in tears and to tears it will
yield its best treasures. God has nothing to say to the frivolous
man.” These words begin A.W. Tozer’s book, God
Tells The Man Who Cares.
Hannah carried out to God and in her grief poured out her
soul before the Lord. In severe trial, “In bitterness
of soul, (she) prayed unto the Lord, and wept sore . . . And
she vowed a vow” that brought forth a manchild—Samuel,
which means Heard of God (I Samuel 1:7, 10-15).
“In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death.”
The words had been spoken by the mouth of the prophet: “Thus
saith the Lord, Set thine house in order; for thou shalt die
and not live.” Here was a man who would turn the arm
of God. Hezekiah “turned his face to the wall, and prayed
unto the Lord . . . and Hezekiah wept sore.” God responded
to his cry and prayer of desperation with words of grace and
assurance: “I have heard thy prayer, have seen thy tears”
behold I will heal thee . . . I will add unto they days fifteen
years” (II Kings 20:1-6).
When King Josiah heard of the wrath of the Lord against the
people of Judah, he humbled himself before the Lord and cried
out to God. God answered him, “Because thine heart was
tender, and thou hast humbled thyself before the Lord when
thou heardest what I spake against this place and hast rent
thy clothes, and wept before Me; I also have heard thee, saith
the Lord” (II kings 22:19ff).
Then there was the woman who came to Jesus and “brought
an alabaster box of ointment, and stood at His feet behind
Him weeping, and began to wash His feet with tears, and did
wipe them with the hairs of her head, and kissed His feet,
and anointed them with the ointment.” Jesus did not
rebuke her for crying or making such a display of herself
in His presence. Rather, He valued the preciousness of her
offering to Him and granted her complete forgiveness (Luke
7:37-48).
There is something lacking in the lives of many of God’s
people today; this something preserved the purity of His Word
which was spoken through the prophets and kept the sacredness
of His Presence that was manifest in the early church. It
is that quality of whole-hearted abandonment unto Him, which
requires the willing surrender of all else, the forsaking
of self—for Him, and Him alone. There is a brokenness
learned only through experience, and it finds expression in
tears.
Job learned the meaning of suffering and was purified as
gold (Job 23:10). The Psalmist knew this secret of fellowship
with the Father, and he recognized that any going forth must
be preceded by; much weeping, if it was to bear fruit. “He
that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed . . .
´Something that had been sown in the heart was finally
being brought to life in the outward expression of those inner
longings through the shedding of tears. “They that sow
in tears shall reap . . .” Psalm 127:5-6).
Our cries never go unheeded (Lamentations 2:18-19; 3:48-51).
It is recorded in the Psalms that God sees our tears and preserves
them in a bottle (Psalm 56:8). He honored the cries of the
priests and prophets of old (Joel 2:12, 17ff). It was with
“many tears” and “much affliction and anguish
of heart” that Paul wrote the early church (II Corinthians
2:4; Philippians 3:18; Acts 20:19, 31). Yes, even “Jesus
wept:” and “In the days of His flesh . . . offered
up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears.
. .” (John 11:33, 35; Hebrews 5:7). He was grieved and
wept over Jerusalem, “because thou knewest not the time
of thy visitation” (Luke 19:41, 44).
There must be within us that same awareness of God’s
purposes in the earth. We must “give Him no rest”
until we have seen the fulfillment of those things which have
long ago been spoken by the mouth of the prophets (Isaiah
62:6-7). “Arise, cry out in the night: in the beginning
of the watches pour out thine heart like water before the
face of the Lord’; lift up thy hands toward Him . .
. Till the Lord look down and behold from heaven” (Lamentations
2:19, 3:50). There is an urgent need today for a people who
will come before their creator as those in times past, and
move His hand toward this generation.