Attent

by G.L. Atkinson, Newcastle upon Tyne, England | Category: General | Feb 1991

One of the unusual services available by telephone in the UK is that of the Samaritans. Someone is always there to listen and to counsel people in extremity. This voluntary organization was begun specifically to help those who felt that they had no hope left in life, and at the very least give them an opportunity to talk out their problems instead of taking more desperate action. The Samaritans provide a human ear and voice to those desperate for human care.

There are some unusual words in the older English versions of the Bible and one of them occurs - twice - only in 2 Chronicles (AV). King Solomon, having built the great temple in accordance with divinely given specifications, dedicated it as the house of God and in his prayer of dedication asked God to be "Attent unto the prayer that is made in this place" (6:40).

Later God spoke to Solomon and confirmed that His ears would be "attent unto the prayer that is made in this place" (7:15).

Attent means the act of attending in various senses; seeing, hearing, caring. That is, in a more common phrase, giving all attention. That too is unusual in our day, for there are not many who will give us their full and undivided, much less constant, attention. But there is One who will. As the hymn writer says:

There is an eye that never sleeps...

There is an ear that never shuts.

God listens to prayer and listens for prayer. As it was in the day of Solomon, so now God is attent to those who, from that household of the faith which is the house of God today, make their prayer to Him.

G.L. Atkinson, Newcastle upon Tyne, England | Feb 1991
General