When Jesus got to Bethany that day, he wept. I have heard so many stories through the years of why he wept. That God wept because they didn’t believe in Him. That he wept because they didn’t understand what he could do for Lazarus now. Or did the man Jesus weep because he felt the twinges of guilt for being late and disappointing his friends. Or did he weep because he knew that no longer would he hear the sound of Lazarus’s voice and get to hang out with him.
I think, that Jesus wept with human compassion as he shared in the sorrow of his friends Mary and Martha.
When our friends hurt, we hurt. Not because we identify with their circumstances and wonder what if that was me? We cry because they are crying. We feel the weight of their heaviness because we love them.
I remember the story of the little four year old boy whose next door neighbor was an elderly gentleman who had recently lost his wife. Upon seeing the man cry, the little boy went in the gentlemen’s yard, climbed onto his lap, and just sat there. When his mother asked what he had said to the neighbor, the little boy said, “Nothing, I just helped him cry.”
I truly believe, that Jesus walks with us in the dark nights of our soul and sits with us in the places of despair and cries with us.
- When Satan comes to sift us as wheat, He prays for us.
- When our hearts scream in agony and our minds thrash with the “whys” that defy logic, He is with us to wipe away the tears.
- We have the promise that he is close to those who are shattered. He never breaks a bruised reed.
We know that the testing of our faith makes us stronger. But will somebody please tell our hearts?
Job faced incredible loss. He was in so much shock and pain that he was speechless. His grief was real. His wife blamed him in her displaced processing. He had friends tell him some pretty rotten advice. (People in their attempts to help can say some really dumb things.) Then finally, a friend was able to speak truth that was able to touch his heart.
“The Almighty is beyond our reach and exalted in power;
in his justice and great righteousness, he does not oppress.
Therefore, men revere him,
for does he not have regard for all the wise in heart?” Job 37:23-24
With those words, Job could finally see above the dark horizon and his heart finally heard wisdom. God told him to look at all that God has done and is.
“Job, I am a big God. Look at what I have done.
I am big enough to help you get through this. Let Me be there with you.”
Job repented and the sun came out again in his life. Do you think he was forever marked by that dark season of his soul?
This has been a week of incredible loss in the lives of those that I love. I have wept with them. I have prayed for comfort. I have prayed that the God who holds the seven stars in His hand to hold their hearts and give them grace.
If you have had loss or feel like the night in your life is unrelenting, I am praying today that you too will feel “the power that is greater and the force that is stronger than the pain and it is GOD’s DESIRE FOR you.”
May my friend’s heart know. May your heart know.
Leave a Reply