Little Tears

Got all the heartaches I can use
From all the long nights I've been through
I'm only crying little tears
Not quite as big as they might appear

—Joy Lynne White

A storm was stirring in Jesus. "He groaned in the spirit, and was troubled." The center column reports that "he troubled himself." Before he would raise the dead he roused himself. Why? Because he now stood toe to toe with that last enemy, death.

Spurgeon says the hardest thing in winning souls is to get ourselves into a fit state. I would say the same for preaching. Because until your own soul is moved you cannot move others.

Indignant at the power of the hour of darkness. Grieving with the family. Sorrowful at those who stood by in unbelief. Recognizing the full effects of sin. Our Lord's heart was in a great storm. But instead of a thunderous threat, or the lightning bolt of a curse, all that was perceptible was a shower of tears. Just two words make a verse unto themselves, John 11:35. He worked, he walked, he wearied, and "Jesus wept."

Jesus was always in touch with himself. Happy are those who are in touch with him. He held his divinity without doubt and his manhood without mistake. How did he keep it together? He wept.

The Puritans used to say that no prayer would prevail with God like liquid petitions. They trickle from the eye when distilled from the heart. The angel at the Jabbok will slip from Jacob's grasp. But moisten your hands with tears and you will hold him. Why take Prozac? Let your soul arouse itself, and trouble itself to anguish to prevail. Jesus taught us how to baptize our prayers.

How did Jesus keep sin out of his crying? By weeping in the Father's presence. He spoke to God in his sorrow and the first word was, Father (v 41). But that's not all. It was, "Father, I thank thee . . .".

If you can weep in a way that, all the while, you sense God is your Father and are thanking him, then your crying is healthy. When you cannot smile or weep without forgetting God and his word, you are sinning. (I just gave you the answer. Or if you prefer, we'll call it "The Secret" and you can send me $23.95.)

Consider this. Jesus did not prove his sympathy in words, or even his deeds. Only your heart can express true sympathy, and it does it by tears. They are mined from the depths of the heart, minted in the eyes, and put in circulation as precious (Ps 56:8).

Watch, or you'll miss it. Our Hero wept in the fight, but he was not defeated. He came, he wept, he conquered (apologies to Julius Caesar; I'm not sure how to say that in Latin).

You have an awfully small soul if you can hold it all in your ribcage. A Christ-like soul lives in the souls of other people’s bodies as well as its own (Rom 12:15). And indignation over being wronged will best show itself in compassion for the wrongdoer.

Then after you weep, go roll the stone away.