TEARS

"Tears are liquid prayers that carry a lot of weight at the throne of God." Charles Spurgeon

One of my favorite verses in the Bible is Psalm 56: 8:

"Thou tellest my wanderings; put thou my tears into your bottle. Are they not in your book?"

Some view tears as a sign of weakness, but God does not turn His back upon our tears. He knows every tear that falls from every eye. He has them recorded in His book of remembrance as surely as He numbers the hairs upon each head.

Hezekiah wept and God responded by extending his life:

1 In those days Hezekiah was sick and near death. And Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, went to him and said to him, “Thus says the LORD: ‘Set your house in order, for you shall die, and not live.’”2 Then he turned his face toward the wall, and prayed to the LORD, saying, 3 “Remember now, O LORD, I pray, how I have walked before You in truth and with a loyal heart, and have done what was good in Your sight.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly. 4 And it happened, before Isaiah had gone out into the middle court, that the word of the LORD came to him, saying, 5 “Return and tell Hezekiah the leader of My people, ‘Thus says the LORD, the God of David your father: “I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; surely I will heal you. On the third day you shall go up to the house of the LORD. 6 And I will add to your days fifteen years. I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria; and I will defend this city for My own sake, and for the sake of My servant David. II Kings 20: 1-6


David was a man after God's own heart. He is my favorite character in the Bible because I relate to him more than any other. I camp with him often in the book of Psalms, and he expresses my feelings so aptly at times. David was a crier, and so am I.

"Have mercy upon me, O Lord, for I am in trouble; mine eye is consumed w ith grief..." Psalm 31: 9

"O Lord my God, I have cried unto you and you have heard me." Psalm 30: 2

"Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning." Psalm 30: 5

"Unto thee will I cry O lord, my rock; be not silent to me, lest if thou be silent to me I become like them that go down into the pit. Hear the voice of my supplication when I cry unto thee, when I lift up my hands toward thy holy oracle." Psalm 28: 1,2

"Depart from me, all you workers of iniquity;For the LORD has heard the voice of my weeping. " Psalm 6:8

Yes, God sees our tears. He is moved with compassion for us. He is not a stone that cannot be stirred by our weeping. He loves us and He cares for us.

Jesus himself wept. (John 11:35) He wept at the death of a friend, but more because of their unbelief in his ability to raise him up.

Tears come for different reasons. Grief. Sadness. Loneliness. Hopelessness. Anger. Inexpressable joy. Compassion. Empathy. Sympathy.

As I said, I am a crier. If you cry, I will cry. I cry when I pray. I cry when a song moves my heart. I cry at sappy movies. I even cried at the end of Home Alone I! I cry at Hallmark commercials. I cry when my heart is broken. My daughter says there will be no tears in Heaven because I will have cried them all.

And that is a promise that God makes to us...that He will wipe all our tears away one day. (Isaiah 25:8) One day there will be no more crying, no more heartache, no more sadness or loneliness or hopelessness. One day all of that will come to an end. Praise the Lord!! What a glorious day that will be.

IT IS WELL WITH MY SOUL

Jesus said in John 16:33 "...in this world you WILL have tribulation, but be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world!"

Jesus does not promise to take us out of the tribulation. He does not promise us a life of ease and unending happiness. What He promises us is Himself.


When people fail us....Jesus is always faithful. (Lamentations 3:22,23)

When we are hurting to the depths of our soul...Jesus says "Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest." (Matt. 11: 28)

When we feel we cannot go on....Jesus carries us. (Psalm 55:22)

When we fail Him....Jesus picks us up and gives us another chance. (Psalm 107: 28; 37: 23, 24)

When we sin.... Jesus forgives us . (I John 1:9)

When we are rejected by man....Jesus claims us as His own. ((Psalm 118 : 6)

When all seems hopeless...Jesus reminds us HE is our hope...our eternal HOPE. (Psalm 43:5)

When we are disappointed...Jesus says He will never let us down and never let us go. (Joshua 1:9)

When we feel alone and abandoned...Jesus is ALWAYS there. (Psalm 145: 18,19)

When others are too busy to care....Jesus is ALWAYS available (Psalm 121: 4)

When we hurt so badly we don't know what to pray...Jesus intercedes on our behalf. (Rom. 8:26)

When our hearts are breaking and the tears fall like rain...Jesus puts all of our tears in His bottle, promising that one day, He will wipe away every tear. (Psalm 56:8, Rev. 7:;17)

When we feel we just can't go on....Jesus promises to be our strength. (Psalm 138: 3, 27:7)


Yes, JESUS is there through it all, in the midst of it all. Even in the midst of our darkest days, if we will just look, we can see HIM through our tribulation. Our true joy comes in seeing Him THROUGH the pain, the disappointment, the sorrow, the rejection, the abandonment, the loneliness. He IS there. He is ALWAYS there.

Happiness is based on our circumstances and when the circumstances go south, happiness takes flight.

But true JOY...the JOY that only JESUS can give, comes from knowing that in the MIDST of it all....all the junk that life throws at us....all the fiery darts that Satan attacks us with....in the MIDST of all of that, JESUS is shining like the beacon of a lighthouse to a storm tossed sailor. If we will but keep our eyes on Him, we will make it safely Home. The storms may continue to rage in our life. The pain may seem unbearable at times. But, if we can learn to look PAST the storm and to the LIGHT that is JESUS' love, we can find peace in the midst of the storm.

I omitted the first part of the verse at the beginning of this blog, now I'd like to give it ALL to you....

"These things have I spoken unto you, that IN ME you might have PEACE. In the world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world."

Keeping our eyes on JESUS is the ONLY way to have peace in this tribulation-filled world. I pray today that you will find that peace in the midst of YOUR storm just as the author of the beloved hymn "IT IS WELL WITH MY SOUL" found his.