Then the word of the Lord came to Isaiah. “Go and say to Hezekiah, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of David, your Father. I have heard your prayer. I have seen your tears. Behold, I will add 15 years to your life. I will deliver you and the city out of the hand of the king of Assyria and will defend this city.””
– Isaiah 38:4–6
Wow. What an answer to prayer. So Hezekiah is sick and at the point of death in Isaiah 38 and Hezekiah turns his face to God and prays and says in verse 3, “Please, oh Lord, help me. Heal me,” and he’s weeping before the Lord. Verse 3 says he’s weeping bitterly and in response, God tells Isaiah to go to Hezekiah and tell him, “I’ve heard your prayer and I’ve seen your tears and you’re not going to die. I’m going to add 15 years to your life and I’m going to deliver you and the city out of the hand of the king of Assyria. I’m going to defend the city,” which is also what Hezekiah has been praying for.
Isaiah 38:4–6 is a powerful reminder that our prayers are never unheard by God.
Now, there are a lot of questions that come up when you hear a passage like this because all of us who have walked with God have found ourselves praying and even weeping for things and God has not answered in the way that we hoped. But this is where I want to remind you and it’s what we see all over Scripture, over and over and over again and I want to encourage you with this, that God hears every single one of your prayers, your cries to him. Not one of them is unheard by him.
God hears your prayers and he sees your tears as you’re calling out, crying out to him for things in your life, for things in others’ lives. God hears all your prayers. He sees all your tears and your prayers matter that God has ordained your prayers to be a means by which he moves in the world, in your life, and in others’ lives. Don’t think for a second when your prayers are not answered in the way that you hope or desire, that your prayers are in vain. That’s never true.
Isaiah 38:4–6 reminds us to trust God’s infinite wisdom as we pray.
First and foremost, prayer is about a relationship with God. It’s about communion with God and that’s never, ever, ever wasted and at the same time, we remember in our praying that he is God and we are not and he is all wise and we are not and he is all-powerful and we are not and he sees the whole picture and we do not. So we can trust him with all we are praying. We can trust that our prayers are never in vain. We can trust that he hears our prayers, he sees our tears, and he will act according to his infinite wisdom, infinite power, and infinite love.
He will act according to the big picture that he has seen before the foundation of the world. He knows so many things we don’t know and so press it and pray. Yes, when you are sick and at the point of death, pray for healing and trust in God and in a million other circumstances. When others are sick or at the point of death, pray for healing and trust in God. When any number of things are happening in your life and others’ lives, press in.
Cry out to God with tears before God and know that God, your Father hears all your prayers. He sees all your tears and he will answer according to his perfect wisdom, power, and love. You can trust him. So God, teach us to pray with confidence that you are hearing our prayers. That you are seeing our tears. And that you are answering and will answer and will act according to what we’re praying. According to your wisdom. According to your power and your love.
This verse encourages us to be grateful to God.
And God, we’re so thankful for this, God, that You, the all-wise, all-loving, all-powerful Creator, Ruler of the Universe have invited us to come to you, to commune with you, to lift up our hearts to you and you listen to us and we are so thankful that you are God and we are not, that you’re in control and we are not. We trust in you. So God, help us to pray with trust in you. We trust that you’re hearing us, that you see us and you will act as we pray according to your infinite wisdom, power, and love.
So God, as we pray for many things in our lives today and each day, help us to remember these things, to remember that you’re hearing our every word, that you’re seeing our every tear, and that you are trustworthy and will act in response to our prayers according to who you are.
Prayer for the Algerian People
We unite our hearts right now and pray for the Algerian people. 37 million of them, most of whom don’t know the good news of your love for them.
God, we intercede for them. Hear our prayers for Algerians, not just in Algeria, but in countries like Libya as well. God, we pray that Algerians would be reached with the gospel and that you would bring salvation to Algerian people. God, hear our prayers, hear and see our cries for them, and bring about salvation among them. We pray for your glory. We pray for them. Lord, we pray for the people around us. Lord, we pray for our lives in confidence that none of these prayers is in vain. We love you, God, Jesus.
We praise you for making prayer possible through your death on the cross, your resurrection from the grave, and for this privilege of communion with You. In Jesus’ name, we pray all this according to Isaiah 38:4–6. Amen.
David Platt serves as a Lead Pastor for McLean Bible Church. He is also the Founder of Radical, an organization that makes Jesus known among the nations.
David received his B.A. from the University of Georgia and M.Div., Th.M., and Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Some of his published works include Radical, Radical Together, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Don’t Hold Back, and How to Read the Bible.
He lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area with his wife and children.
