There seems to be an inordinate amount of pain and hurt these days. Pain from self-destructive choices. Pain from the destructive choices of those we love. Relational hurt. Emotional hurt. Church hurt. Not to mention all of the financial stresses pressing in around us.
There is a story in John 11 about deep pain and sorrow. Mary – the one who had poured expensive perfume on Jesus feet – and her sister, Martha, had lost their brother, Lazarus.
"Lord, if only you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask."
23Jesus told her, "Your brother will rise again."
24"Yes," Martha said, "he will rise when everyone else rises, at the last day." …
33When Jesus saw her weeping and saw the other people wailing with her, a deep anger welled up within him, and he was deeply troubled. 34"Where have you put him?" he asked them. They told him, "Lord, come and see." 35Jesus wept.
As an annual Ross Haven Bible Camp scripture-verse-memorization champion, John 11:35 was always a favorite. Just two words. Jesus wept. As simple and short as this verse is, it carries with it a profound truth.
Jesus has the strength and ability to heal and wholly redeem this situation. In fact, He has plans to reverse this current pain into the deepest most unexpected-breathtaking-remarkable joy imaginable! And yet He weeps.
His power does not rule out His grief.
He doesn't let His ability to raise the dead keep Him from entering fully into the humanity and sorrow of the moment. He is the resurrection and the life; and He weeps. If you are the one in pain, I hope you'll find some comfort here. This is part of what makes Him so good. And if the pain isn't yours but rests in those around you, be encouraged to follow His example and enter into it. Fully. And even if you have the power to console and ease the pain, part of being Christ-like is to weep first.
been doing a lot of crying these last 5 months... so much pain today, with all the disasters on top of the problems we've had for a long time
ReplyDeletelove this. interestingly i read the other day in a study about God weeping. the study pointed out 2 Sam 24, 1 Chron 21 but recalled the events of Gen 22 & explained that the word for grieve is nacham means to draw breath forcibly, pant, breathe strongly; to groan; to be sorry; to pity, to grieve, to have compassion to comfort oneself. It carries the idea of breathing deeply as a physical desplay of one's feeling usually sorrow compassion or comfort, & was used once before in 2 sam 12:24 meaning being consoled over the death of an infant child. This study painted such a beautiful & yet painful picture of a loving God grieving at the site of the angel issuing punishment over Israel when the angel's hand reached the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite...God "gasped" in grief because that is the place where David had built an altar & where God's temple would be built, & even before that, Abraham had gone to sacrifice Isaac & God provided an alternate sacrifice...God "gasped" & grieved at that place of mercy and told the angel "enough"... and the angel withdrew his hand. I dunno. It was so very powerful to know God our Father so full of emotion too. <3
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