Land of Tears
Weeping fills our land. With over 400,000 Americans lost to COVID-19 in less than a year, millions of families are shrouded in grief. Is yours?
If not, at one time or another, all of us will experience setbacks, sufferings, sacrifices and sorrows that bring us to tears—tears lasting a short time or tears lasting a season. More than one poet has called this mortal life a “valley of tears.”
Have you navigated that lonesome trail anytime recently?
Book of Tears
Believe it or not, the Bible is a “book of tears.” Scores of passages focus on broken hearts. For example, Psalm 30 speaks of “joy [that] comes in the morning” (Ps. 30:5b) but precedes that hope by facing the fact that first “weeping may endure for a night” (Ps. 30:5a).
In Jeremiah 9, the prophet prayed that an entire river might run through his head so that he could keep on sobbing night and day over God’s judgments about to descend upon his city.
Man of Tears
Similarly, Jesus was a “man of tears.” In the days of his earthly ministry, he was marked not only as “a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief” (Isa. 53:3b) but also as one who also “has borne our grief and carried our sorrows” (Isa. 53:4a). Put most simply, John 11:35 records that “Jesus wept.”
Revelation Through Tears
David Bryant has been doing a lot of thinking recently about his own tears. While grieving the unexpected loss of a dear Christian friend, he believes the Spirit of God gave him fresh insight into how God wants to comfort us in our times of loss.
The secret lies in discovering something more about Christ that changes the way we grieve so that we do not “grieve as others who have no hope” (1 Thess. 4:13).
Be comforted today. Let David Bryant, through his own experience and the Word of God, show you a way forward through your tears into healing and strength in the strong arms of Jesus. Listen to his heart on this episode of Christ Today on the Charisma Podcast Network. {eoa}
