Blessings can surface from a flood of tears
God helps us push through the difficult periods in life
When my father was ill with terminal cancer and suffered a lot of pain, there was one thing that worried him above all: that he was not a joyful Christian at all times. He often complained, “Why must I always get so crabby?”
I felt much empathy for my father, as I also feel with Job of the Old Testament when he said: “My eye pours out tears to God (Job 16:20).” This struck a chord in me, for I have struggled with tears many times.
Often in life there are periods of sorrow or despair from which it seems impossible to emerge. Standard boosts of “Cheer up” or “Be joyful” serve little helpful purpose. They only add to the feeling of emptiness. They make you feel guilty if no smile immediately follows.
The verse “Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say, Rejoice (Phil. 4:4),” is often used as a command to force me or others to perform. It succeeds only in building a wall around my true feelings while my misery remains behind a manufactured smile.
Another Bible passage reads: “To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven .... A time to weep and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance (Eccl. 3:1 and 4).” God understands the deepest sorrow. In my despair, the Lord has caught me, and kept me from falling. He is the one who lifted me out of the well of tears. This is true comfort.
Breaking down in tears does not mean the end, but the beginning of a new experience with Jesus. It was so for Job, as the final chapters of the book reveal. Praise God that I can now say of myself that my smile shows genuine happiness about the Lord’s nearness.
Jesus suffered, and has inhabited the valley of misery Himself. He understands, even though many people do not. He is able to bear the heaviest burdens for us, if we will only cast them on Him. He is present at the heights of our lives, but He is also there at the depth of our despair.
I now know that wherever I am in my emotions, He is always there. He will not let me go. There is contentment in the circle of God’s perfect will, where life has meaning. If a person goes off on a tangent of his own thinking, he will sooner or later get lost. Consider it a blessing when these lost feelings produce tears. This is God’s signpost pointing the way back.
This has happened to me time and again. But I have learned not to let my tears flow to things of this world, nor to shut them up within myself, nor to wallow in desperation. When we face difficult periods in our lives, God wants us to go through them, not to stay in them.
Like gold refined by fire does not stay in the fire, but comes through it, so it is with our troubles. Instead of nursing our hurts, we learn from them and press on. When my time for crying comes, I know that I can let myself go, not to the depth of depression, but with my mind and faith on Him, who is able to dry tears like no one else.
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