Anthropomorphism! Trust me, it is not a word that is a part of my regular vocabulary. This term describes the act of attributing human characteristics to something that is not human. For example, Proverbs 1:20 says, “Wisdom cries aloud in the street, in the markets she raises her voice.” Notice that wisdom is described as a “she” when the word itself is neither masculine nor feminine; but Solomon attributes the human characteristic of gender to this non-human word.
More notably would be the use of anthropomorphism when it comes to God. Since the Lord is Spirit (John 4:24), He does not possess the human qualities of the fleshly body. However, the scriptures often attach human elements to God so that we can comprehend Him more easily. God is said to have a nose that can smell the sweet aroma our worship produces for Him (2Corinthians 2:15). He has legs that allow us to walk beside him in a faithful relationship (Genesis 5:24, 1John 1:7). He has eyes that can see over the activities of the entire earth (Proverbs 15:3). He has a face, that is said turn away from those that do evil (Psalm 34:16).
The Bible also says the Lord has ears. Can you imagine what it would be like, just for a few seconds, to obtain the unlimited hearing ability of God? I’m sure it would overpower our physical being! We could hear stars exploding in other galaxies billions of light years away. We could listen to the thoughts of every angel that inhabits heaven. We could hear the conversations of the innumerable souls that have passed on from this life into paradise. There are unfathomable amounts of sounds that enter in the ears of God, throughout our universe and beyond. However, what does God hear on earth? What sounds do His ears embrace as He listens over the activities of humanity? God hears the righteous (Isaiah 59:1-2).
More specifically, he hears two things concerning the righteous. First, he hears our injustice. When God approached Cain and asked where his brother was, Cain tried to play innocent about murdering him. However, God knew exactly what happened, because He could hear with His ears, “What have you done? The voice of your brother's blood is crying to me from the ground” (Genesis 4:10). Though Cain tried to cover it with dirt, Abel’s blood was shouting to God from the earth “INJUSTICE!” God is able to hear when the righteous suffer from unrighteousness, when the just are impaled by injustice. He knows the sound of our blood soaking into the ground, tears rolling down our cheeks and sighs of pain exhaling from our lungs. How overwhelming would it be to hear every cry of the millions of babies that are aborted in our country? Yet, God hears every one of those innocent cries as they shout “INJUSTICE!”
Furthermore, this leads into the second point; which is that God listens to the prayers of the righteous (1Peter 3:12). We can be confident that the Lord’s ears are not dull that He cannot hear (Isaiah 59:1). Our God listens to every shout for praise and every plea for help that we entreat Him with. This fact is not to be taken for granted, as we can sometimes doubt whether our prayers are being received. Make no mistake that God hears every injustice we suffer and every prayer we cry to Him about those injustices. Praise the Lord, for He has eyes that see us, legs that walk with us, and ears that hear every sound of pain and prayer from His righteous children.