Believers May Weep

Weeping may spend the night, but there is joy in the morning.               Psalm 30:5 (HCSB)

I am weary from my groaning; with my tears I dampen my pillow and drench my bed every night.               Psalm 6:6 (HCSB)

I have written before about weeping and mourning as seen in Jesus’ life and so as His disciples we, too, weep and mourn. I am writing about it again today because I wept last night when I received an email from a friend who said his beloved wife, who has fought the good fight and run her given race well, was ready to go Home and asked that we pray that God would take her quickly. I prayed that prayer and also asked God to comfort her husband and her parents and children and grandchildren as they let go of her hand so that she may give both of hers to Christ. Her chain of grace is long and winds through many countries as she was a beacon of God’s Light to the world. I will miss her testimonies and proclamations to fulfill our God-given calls to “go into all the world.”

Weeping can be an act of releasing emotions that would otherwise fester and infect my heart and spirit. It can wash my spirit of anger, frustration, despair, confusion and ungodly sadness. By ungodly sadness I mean sadness that I clutch and hold on to like a mask to hide my real face. Jesus wept over Jerusalem as He saw the generations who had continued to reject God’s messengers and even His own Son. I see this as Jesus releasing His human emotions into the hands of the Father, acknowledging that the Father would keep His promises and continue to call His children home.

Weeping can also be a release of joy when God has manifest Himself so wonderfully that my spirit cannot contain my reaction and words fail me. I have wept as I looked out over Niagara Falls, the Rocky Mountains and a single flower opening in spring. I have wept as I looked into the face of each of my children and grandchildren for the first time. And I wept as I watched my son open his eyes and smile as he drew his last breath on earth and saw – something or Someone.

I may drench my pillow with tears as I struggle in the pain of this world but because of God’s promises, including His perfect promise in Jesus Christ, the night of tears always gives way to a day of joy. So if you are crying out to God with tears of sadness, do not stop your prayer (conversation) with God until He shows you the joy of His promises. Like Jacob of the Old Testament, do not let go of God until He blesses you (Genesis 32:25-27).

Agnus Dei written and sung by Michael W. Smith