Tears

Every single day I believe somebody weeps over something.  Sometimes people cry because off a sad story or a sad movie, a loss of someone near and dear to them or maybe a loss of an animal or a close friend. Sometimes people weep over selfish things like not being able to get their own way or get something they want.  It may be because of a doctor’s visit or some terrible news story.  Stress, depression or just plain pain could be a factor.  Sometimes our weeping is caused over just plain pride being hurt.  Did I mention sins that we have committed; I wonder how many cry over their sins?  There is one more thing that I want to mention before I go on and it is weeping over people you know that are hurting.  In the Bible in Romans 12:15 it says, “Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep.”  There are so many things that people cry about and I am sure I didn’t cover them all.

This is one that I didn’t mention yet, have you ever wept over lost souls? We live in a world where everything is so visual, like seeing real war on TV where people are bombing, shooting and stabbing real people left and right.  Before the majority of children reach the age of sixteen they have watched thousands of violent TV programs plus videos and who knows how many murders.  Murders happen in our streets, towns and cities everywhere.  The problem is we see and hear it so often we start to get immune to it.  Sometimes what we may have cried over at one time doesn’t seem to affect us anymore.  Our problem is we are getting desensitized and our tears don’t seem to fall as easy as they did.

What people weep over tells us something about them.  If you see someone humble themselves and weep over their sins it tells us, and the Lord, that they are truly repentant in their heart and also that they hate what the Lord hates and that they are sorry that they hurt Him in that way. If God’s heart can be broken, sin will surely cause it to happen.  If a person weeps over being hurt by someone else it is more than likely that their pride has been the cause of their tears even though most of us don’t want to admit it.  Pride is the cause of many fights, arguments and tears and needs to be dealt a death blow in our lives.  I think you get the point of the reason you can tell about a person because of what they weep over.

Question:  Do you weep over the things that make God sad, like the loss of a rebellious, unruly person who rejects the Lord and all the things God stands for?  God is not happy over the wicked that die.  How many times have you wept over a ‘prodigal son’ who once served the Lord but is not serving Him any longer?  What about people that claim they love the Lord but live a life that doesn’t prove what they claim?

If you want to read about a man of God who wept over the sins of God’s people, read about Jeremiah in the book of Lamentations.  This is a man that loved God and was very faithful to Him. He also loved his brethren, the chosen people of God. He was a man that loved what God love and hated what God hated.  This book is known as the book of tears.  Jeremiah’s tears were not for himself, or self-centered, they were tears for God’s rebellious, idol worshiping people.  God had, had enough and judgment was coming on the people He called the apple of His eye.  

This lesson has caused me to be sad because I am afraid that many of God’s people live the same way today.  Many who call themselves Christians are doing their own thing, going their own way, seeking their own pleasures.  And idols, there are many in their homes, they might not be sitting on their mantles, but they are in their homes and garages.  I think many Christians have things they put ahead of God.  Things they talk about the most and spend most of their time and thoughts on.  The Bible says in 1 Peter 4:17, “For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God?” 

I can’t understand why there are so few prophecies about repentance and sin in the church today, there were at one time.  Are we that much different than the Jewish people were in Jeremiah’s day?  I don’t think so! Read both of Jeremiah’s books and judge for yourselves.  Jeremiah wrote the book of Jeremiah and also Lamentations.  Take time to read them, asking the Holy Spirit to teach you and to open your mind to really understand what is there and how it relates to us today and the church as a whole.  If it doesn’t make you sad, and maybe even brings tears to your eyes, maybe you need to ask the Lord why.

Something to think about and take very seriously, I hope you will.  May God bless you and have a great day.