FOR THE LOVE OF GOD

Scripture Reference: Revelation 5:4-5

As appropriate as all the types of weeping are, I want to draw your attention to another type of weeping, one that results in longing tears. 1 Samuel 1:7 describes the tears Hannah shed because she longed for God to bless her with a son. It says: “So it was, year by year, when she went up to the house of the LORD, that she provoked her; therefore she wept and did not eat.”

Hannah went to the house of the Lord every year to plead with God to give her a son. She longed for a son, so she prayed, fasted and wept.

When is the last time you longed for something so bad, that you wept as you prayed?

Do you long for the Lord that much? The psalmist wrote, “As the deer pants for the water brooks, so pants my soul for You, O God” (Psalm 42:1).

A couple of years ago, I read an article about a group of Christian disciples called the “Wa People” in Burma: “Believers are living out a modern day Paul and Silas story as they sit chained to walls in their own filth knowing that imprisonment leads to infection and death often within a few months. Yet, they continue to praise God that they can suffer for the Kingdom’s sake. Many in prison have come to faith in Christ because of the gritty faith that continues to awe me. In Somalia out of eight converts, five were killed within days after their baptism by their own family members.”

Do you long to live for Christ as these believers do?

Do you long to see souls saved?

When is the last time you wept over a lost soul?

It is as appropriate to weep over a soul going to hell as it is to weep at the loss of a loved one like David did, or when losing a blessing like Esau did, or when failing Christ like Peter did. We weep whenever we suffer a personal loss. Is it personal enough to you that your fellow “man” is perishing for all eternity? Is it personal enough to you to realize that without Christ, your family, friends, and neighbors will miss heaven?

One day they will stand in front of Christ Jesus and His Word tells us: “Then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’ “ (Matthew 7:23). What heart-wrenching words that will be! Have you, as believers, tried to imagine the impact, the eternal significance of those spoken words? Doesn’t that make you want to weep?

Matthew’s next chapter tells us the impact of Christ Jesus’ words when they begin an eternity in hell . . . they will weep. “But the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 8:12).

Perhaps if we spend some time weeping over souls today, they won’t have to weep and gnash their teeth throughout eternity.

Will you join me in caring enough for lost souls that yours and my prayers will turn into tears for their eternal salvation?

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from the New King James Version®, NKJV © 1982 by Thomas Nelson.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture Reference: Revelation 5:4-5

The Apostle John discovered that it is not always appropriate to weep, but King Solomon wrote: [There is] “A time to weep, And a time to laugh; A time to mourn, And a time to dance” (Ecclesiastes 3:4).

I love to laugh and wish I knew how to dance—I have two left feet, but I think I’m like most people in that I don’t hunger for more opportunities to weep. Yet they surely come, and when they do, they are often a blessing, in disguise for sure, but a blessing none-the-less..

The Scripture speaks of a blessed weeping. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said, “Blessed are those who mourn, For they shall be comforted” (Matthew 5:4).

Remember the tears of reconciliation Joseph shed when he embraced Benjamin and later his father. “Then he fell on his brother Benjamin’s neck and wept, and Benjamin wept on his neck. Moreover he kissed all his brothers and wept over them, and after that his brothers talked with him” (Genesis 45:14-15).

And then in the next chapter of Genesis the scripture says, “So Joseph made ready his chariot and went up to Goshen to meet his father Israel; and he presented himself to him, and fell on his neck and wept on his neck a good while” (Genesis 46:29). These were definitely times of blessed weeping.

Unfortunately, there are also those somber times that we weep.

David wept when Absalom died, “Then the king was deeply moved, and went up to the chamber over the gate, and wept. And as he went, he said thus: ‘O my son Absalom—my son, my son Absalom—if only I had died in your place! O Absalom my son, my son!’ ” (2 Samuel 18:33).

Weeping isn’t just appropriate when people die. Manly Esau wept when he lost his blessing. “Esau said to his father, ‘Have you only one blessing, my father? Bless me—me also, O my father!’  And Esau lifted up his voice and wept” (Genesis 27:38). Yes, real men do cry.

Peter wept when he came face to face with his own sinfulness: “Peter remembered the word of Jesus who had said to him, ‘Before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times.’ So he went out and wept bitterly” (Matthew 26:75).

Then there are the sweet tears of repentance. “Now, therefore,” says the LORD, “Turn to Me with all your heart, With fasting, with weeping, and with mourning” (Joel 2:12).

When is the last time your sinfulness broke your heart?

Some might weep when they get caught or when they get convicted, but that’s not what I’m talking about here. When is the last time you realized your sinfulness, and that realization was enough to break your heart to weep?

To Be Continued

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from the New King James Version®, NKJV © 1982 by Thomas Nelson.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.