Even when words aren’t adequate

But God bends down to listen

Isaiah 36 and 37 “This is what the great king of Assyria says: ‘What are you trusting in that makes you so confident?’ … Don’t let Hezekiah deceive you. Don’t let him fool you into trusting in the Lord by saying, ‘The Lord will surely rescue us.’” … The prophet Isaiah said to King Hezekiah, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Do not be disturbed by this blasphemous speech against me from the Assyrian king’s messengers. Listen! I myself will move against him.’” … Hezekiah prayed this prayer before the Lord: “You alone are God of all the kingdoms of the earth. You alone created the heavens and the earth. Bend down, O Lord, and listen! … Then all the kingdoms of the earth will know that you alone, O Lord, are God.” Then Isaiah sent this message to Hezekiah: “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel says: ‘Because you prayed … For my own honor and for the sake of my servant David, I will defend this city and protect it.’” That night the angel of the Lord went out to the Assyrian camp and killed 185,000 Assyrian soldiers. Then King Sennacharib of Assyria broke camp and returned to his own land.

Psalm 116:1-2 I love the Lord because he hears my voice and my prayer for mercy. Because he bends down to listen, I will pray as long as I have breath!

It happens regularly when I’m with my young grandchildren. The tug on my clothing or my hand. The urgency in the child’s voice, “Grammy, listen!”

He or she wants me to stop what I’m doing, bend down to their level so our eyes can connect, and give exclusive attention to whatever the issue is: “I need to show you something,” “I think …” “I want you to help me …” “I’m sad [or mad or glad] because …”

I thought of this when I read Isaiah 36 and 37, this story of a desperate king needing assurance that God saw and cared about his situation. King Hezekiah had no resources in himself adequate to the overpowering strength of the Assyrian army, bent on conquest.

What situation do you face today that’s simply too difficult for you to face on your own? What army do you find arrayed against you?

Cry out to the Lord. Picture him bending down to you, as an adult to a small child. Pour out your need and watch for him to act on your behalf.

I’ve written about this before, but it’s such a powerful example of God bending down to us that I want to remind you and myself again of an experience Karis recorded in her journal. In January 2006, Karis had received a five-organ transplant (the first intestinal transplant in 2004 had failed). After a two-and-a-half-year absence from school as she battled for restoration of health, Karis was able to return to Notre Dame for fall semester, 2006. In January 2007, a doctor told Karis the steroid she had to take to combat rejection had destroyed her hip. He recommended immediate surgery, which would require her dropping out of one more semester at Notre Dame.

Karis was devastated. She threw herself down on the grass beside Mary Lake, her despair too great for words.

And Jesus came to her. She saw him with each one of her scars on his body, in the deepest imaginable identification with her pain. He knew, he cared, he faced this new crisis with her.

God does bend down to listen.

Surely, he took up our pain and bore our suffering (Isaiah 53:4).