Do our tears move God?
Thank you for that very important question, for there are many in the world who say, “If there is a God, He has either abandoned mankind or He looks on with indifference (because of man’s sin and rebellion).” This could not be further from the truth, for as we shall see God loves all men and He feels, as none other could, the heartaches and sorrows we experience, including our tears.
In 2nd Kings chapter 20:1 & 3 we read that King “Hezekiah was sick and near death” and he turned to God in prayer and “wept bitterly” (NKJV). How did God react? God told Isaiah the prophet to “Return and tell Hezekiah the leader of My people, ‘Thus says the LORD, the God of David your father: I have heard your prayer, I HAVE SEEN YOUR TEARS; surely, I will heal you’” (verse 5). Does this sound like a God “Who has abandoned mankind” or one who “looks on with indifference?” Surely not! Rather, we see God’s heart of compassion and His desire to heal the heartache and affliction of Hezekiah.
When King David was being pursued by his enemies who sought to kill him, he prayed these words to God: “All day they twist my words; all their thoughts are against me for evil. They gather together, they hide, they mark my steps, when they lie in wait for my life. Shall they escape by iniquity? In anger cast down the peoples, O God! PUT MY TEARS INTO YOUR BOTTLE, are they not in Your book” (Psalm 56:5-8)? David knew that God cared about him. He knew that God was looking on and witnessing, as a caring and loving God, his wanderings and the tears he shed as he went from one hiding place to another. It has been said that David’s allusion to “putting tears in a bottle” spoke of a custom in that day where “mourners would literally preserve their tears in a small bottle which was later placed in the grave of a deceased friend or loved one as a memorial of their affections for that person.” Thus, David knew that God’s affections toward him were being preserved; he knew that God was “keeping a record of our tears in His book.” Again, instead of a God that abandons men and looks on with callous indifference, we see that God is a loving, caring and compassionate God who is deeply concerned about the trials that we face and the tears that we shed.
Do you know what the shortest verse in the Bible is? It is John 11:35 which reads, “Jesus WEPT.” What was it that caused Jesus to weep? We have the answer in verse 33, “Therefore, when Jesus saw her WEEPING, and the Jews who came with her WEEPING, He groaned in the spirit and was troubled.” It was the heartache and sorrow of others that caused Jesus to weep! He was standing near the grave of Lazarus (who He was about to raise from the dead) and as He witnessed the tears of loved ones and friends who were grieving the loss of Lazarus, He was MOVED TO TEARS. We read prophetically of Jesus in Isaiah 53:3-4, “He is despised and rejected of men, a Man of SORROWS AND ACQUAINTED WITH GRIEF…Surely He has BORNE OUR GRIEFS AND CARRIED OUR SORROWS.” These words teach us what we have already seen, that our God (for Jesus is God!) is a loving and caring God who not only “sees our tears,” but He also “feels our tears by sharing our griefs and sorrows.” Some may be thinking, “But that was when He was here on earth; surely He doesn’t have the same feelings for men now that He is in the glory sitting on the right hand of God.” That would be WRONG, for Scripture reveals to us that “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever” (Hebrews 13:8) and thus His feelings towards mankind are the same. And in that same book we read, “Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. For we HAVE NOT an high priest WHICH CANNOT BE TOUCHED WITH THE FEELING OR OUR INFIRMITIES; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin” (4:14-15…KJV). Jesus is STILL TOUCHED by our infirmities and tears! He looks on and sees the trials we are passing through and with a perfect heart He sympathizes with us! Never, for a moment, entertain the thought that “God is not moved by our tears.”
In closing, the day is coming when “God shall WIPE AWAY ALL TEARS from their eyes” (Revelation 21:4). Everyone who has trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ can look forward to eternity where there will be “no more sin” and “no more effects of sin, including tears.” But until that glorious eternal day, God is indeed “moved by our tears.” (468.5) (DO)