Tobit 3:7-17: a reflection

7The same day it happened to Sarah the daughter of Raguel in Ecbatana of Media, that she also was reproached by her father’s maidservants; 8because that she had been given to seven husbands, and Asmodaeus the evil spirit killed them, before they had lain with her. And they said to her, “Do you not know that you strangle your husbands? You have had already seven husbands, and you haven’t borne the name of any one of them. 9Why do you scourge us? If they are dead, go your ways with them. Let us never see either son or daughter from you.” 10When she heard these things, she was grieved exceedingly, so that she thought about hanging herself. Then she said, “I am the only daughter of my father. If I do this, it will be a reproach to him, and I will bring down his old age with sorrow to the grave.” 11Then she prayed by the window, and said, “Blessed are you, O Lord my God, and blessed is your holy and honorable name forever! Let all your works praise you forever! 12And now, Lord, I have set my eyes and my face toward you. 13Command that I be released from the earth, and that I no longer hear reproach. 14You know, Lord, that I am pure from all sin with man, 15and that I never polluted my name or the name of my father in the land of my captivity. I am the only daughter of my father, and he has no child that will be his heir, nor brother near him, nor son belonging to him, that I should keep myself for a wife to him. Seven husbands of mine are dead already. Why should I live? If it doesn’t please you to kill me, command some regard to be had of me, and pity taken of me, and that I hear no more reproach.” 16The prayer of both was heard before the glory of the great God. 17Raphael also was sent to heal them both, to scale away the white films from Tobit’s eyes, and to give Sarah the daughter of Raguel for a wife to Tobias the son of Tobit; and to bind Asmodaeus the evil spirit; because it belonged to Tobias that he should inherit her. At that very time, Tobit returned and entered into his house, and Sarah the daughter of Raguel came down from her upper chamber.

On the same day, in two different places, two people are in deep distress. Tobit, blind and mocked, has prayed to die. And far away, Sarah, who has lost seven husbands to a demon and is cruelly reproached for it, is so overwhelmed with grief that she too, for a moment, despairs of life, before turning instead to prayer, unwilling to bring shame on her father. From the depths of her sorrow, Sarah pours out her heart to God: Blessed are you, O Lord; toward you I have set my face; command that I be released from this reproach. And the text says something we, but not they, can see: the prayer of both was heard before the glory of God, who had already sent Raphael to heal them both.

Notice what the passage lets us see that the sufferers could not. Sarah and Tobit, in their separate despairs, each cried out to God, feeling alone and unheard. But their prayers were heard, and, more than that, God was already at work: he had already sent his healing help, before either of them knew it. In the very depths of their distress, when they felt most alone, God was hearing them and had already moved to answer.

There is deep comfort in that for anyone in despair. When we are overwhelmed with grief, feeling alone and unheard, crying out to God from the depths, we cannot see what this passage lets us see: that God hears the desperate prayer, and that he may already be at work to help, before we know it. If you are in a place of deep distress, even despair, bring it honestly to God as Sarah did, and take heart that he hears the cry of the despairing and moves to help. You may feel alone and unheard; but the God who heard Sarah and Tobit, and had already sent help, hears you too, and is not idle. Cry out to him, and trust that he hears.

Lord, from the depths of their grief, Sarah and Tobit cried out to you, feeling alone and unheard, and you heard them both and had already sent help before they knew it. When I am overwhelmed with grief, feeling alone and unheard, help me bring my distress honestly to you as Sarah did. Assure me that you hear the cry of the despairing and are not idle, that you may already be at work to help. I feel alone; but you hear me. Meet me in my distress, as you met them.