When God Cries
Have you thought about what makes God cry?
Well, hi there, I’m Joni Eareckson Tada and, maybe like you, the oddest things can make you cry (they sure make me cry), but not so with God. When God cries, it is for a very good reason. In fact, I wrote a book some years ago called When God Weeps and in it, I examined things that break God’s heart to the point of tears. Like the time Jesus entered Jerusalem just four days before His crucifixion. When Jesus saw the crowd worshiping Him, he knew they were thinking He would end their slavery to Rome and give them the good life flowing with milk and honey. And at that point, Jesus burst into tears.
My friend, Pastor Ed Underwood, comments on this. He asks, just why did Jesus cry? Well, it’s obvious the Lord could see through their songs of hollow praise, He could see into their hearts. He knew every unkind and hurtful word they had uttered. He knew their fears and doubts; He knew their addictions and their cover-ups, every personal and family secret, every strained relationship, every insecurity, every lie about themselves, every failure and every regret.
And because of it, Jesus refused to give them what they wanted. Instead, He was going to give them what they needed: liberation – not from Rome – but from the penalty and power of sin. It seemed so plain to me that if Jesus had given them everything they wanted, freedom from Rome, a booming economy, better houses, better crops, more leisure time, no more fear of invading troops, and absolute earthly happiness, they would still be the same old messed up people relating to the same old messed up people in the same old messed up world.
And you know, as I think about how Jesus gives us what we need, not what we want, I am amazed at how much I resemble the fickle crowd. I mean, think about it, often my prayers and mine reflect what I want. When I look at all the things I bring before the Lord, I mean, most of the requests are asking God to make things and people in my life less troublesome, make things happier, less challenging, (come on admit it) smoother, easier, less difficult. So many of my prayers – and yours, too, I bet – focus around wanting God to make my life better, more pleasing, more acceptable and more agreeable. But I have to agree with my friend Pastor Ed Underwood who said that what he needs most is for the Lord to change him, not his circumstances. And I say ‘Amen’ to that. To tell the truth, though, God already has changed me, hasn’t He, for it says in Romans Chapter 6 that “… sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.” There you got it, friend. Sin need not have dominion over me; God has changed me; He has given me a new heart. So maybe I should concentrate my prayers on asking the Lord to show me how to live out of who I am in Him, rather than asking Him to improve my messed-up world and make it more to my liking.
So, what say you about all this? I know I’d like to hear your perspective, and so I welcome your thoughts and comments when you visit “Joni’s Corner” at joniandfriends.org. Our prayer team meets every morning here at the International Disability Center and we would love to lift up before the Lord your requests (not to necessarily make your life easier and happier and less troublesome), but we’d love to pray that God might give you the power to live out of who you are in Christ, for sin shall not have dominion over you, friend, for you are under His grace. Finally, let’s agree together not to give God any reason to weep over us today, when the Spirit looks in our hearts, may He see a true desire to live in our messed-up world out of who we are in Jesus.
Previously aired on 7/21/10 as program #7363.
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