God Speaking

“…The Sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears from all faces…”

(Isaiah 25: 8)

I grew up in Australia, but our culture was very much shaped by our British inheritance and one characteristic of Britain, “The stiff upper lip” prevailed in my family. Emotions displayed in public was frowned upon and if you were going through a difficult situation one did not share it in public but dealt with it privately. Just recently I have been going through a difficult time and felt that I had to pretend in public that I was coping well as my childhood upbringing had taught me.

A friend from my Bible study who knew exactly what I was feeling shared a beautiful thought with me which had a profound affect on me. She urged me to share my tears with my loving Bible study people who were so willing to cry with me and comfort me.  Of course, she was right and the sharing of tears brought me great relief.

The Lord himself urges us to share our tears with him and has promised to wipe every tear away (Isaiah 25:8) Jesus himself was not ashamed to cry in public when he saw that his friend Lazarus had died, and he saw the sorrow that his death had caused for his family.

“Jesus wept.” (John 11: 35)

Jesus also allowed a woman of dubious character to wet his feet with her tears of repentance in a public setting;

“When a woman who had lived a sinful life in that town learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisees’ house, she brought an alabaster jar of perfume and as she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears.” (Luke 7: 37 – 38)

Sometimes we too have tears of repentance and sharing those directly with the Lord brings a great feeling of forgiveness. The psalmists wept and shared openly with the Lord and knew it was a safe to open their hearts to him. When they were heading to the temple on their yearly pilgrimage, they knew that if they openly came before the Lord with repentance in their hearts they would return filled with joy;

“Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy.” (Psalm 126: 4)

We too can learn to share our tears with those who are mourning, or in health problems or major financial or family problems, offering them a safe place to do so.

The ultimate promise God makes to us is that any sort of sorrow, any mourning or tears will not exist when we are finally with him

“He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” (Revelation 21: 4)