Thus says the LORD, the God of David thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears: 2Kings 20:5.

Someone once wrote that if our tears were made of 98% ink rather than 98% water, the face of each one of us would be stained for life.

2 Kings 20 v.5  is the first mention of the word ‘tears’ in the Bible. It is a significant mention. God says to Hezekiah, “I have seen thy tears”. Our great God runs the universe, guides the comets, manages the nuclear fusion in the sun, and commands the morning. Every day the clouds ask Him where to rain and the lightning where to strike. He provides for all living, yet He takes time to note when that clear liquid runs down our faces (Psalm 56.8). What a Saviour!

Paul not infrequently gives evidence of the tenderness of his heart, of his regard for the souls of people, and of his deep longing for the salvation of sinners. In Acts 20:19, in connection with the church at Ephesus he says that "he served...with tears", because of anxieties with regards to the  converts from whom he “travailed in birth,” and also because of the Jews, whose bitter hostility was continually plotting against him, interrupting his work and endangering his life. Later in the chapter (Acts 20:31) he warned them night and day with tears, that some would come into their midst proclaiming doctrines that would distract and divide the church. The most dangerous enemies which the church has had have been from within.

Early in his second epistle to the Corinthians he comments that he wrote to them with many tears (2 Cor 2:4).

Just as important and significant as the first mention is the last mention of tears. Revelation 21.4 “and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes”. He sees them; He who made us knows the pain that brought them forth. There is a day coming when He will remove them forever.