Precious TearsBy Michael K. Farrar, O.D.
© March 4, 2009
www.godsbreath.net
“Tears came to Jesus' eyes.” John 11:35
Such precious tears they must have been. They were tears of emotion at the loss of a dear friend. It is hard to understand why the Almighty Son of God would cry. He had the power to raise His friend from the dead and He knew this was what He was going to do. So why cry? I think we need to understand that Jesus was not only God in the flesh, He was human and had emotions just like us. I believe Jesus’ tears tell us that when we cry we have something in common with the Savior of the world and He with us.
It is believed that no other creature on the earth sheds emotional tears. Doctors say we cry emotional tears because they allow us to relieve tension. Believe it or not when we sob in our pain we are letting the tears purge our bodies of minerals and hormones. This balances the body’s stress levels and eliminates a buildup of the chemicals. This is why crying during tough struggles makes us feel better.
But possibly a more important reason we cry is that we are communicating with others and even ourselves that we are feeling deep pain and sadness. It communicates to others that we are in need of comfort and support. We are also communicating to ourselves that we are perfectly normal because crying is a normal response to deep hurt.
Traumatic events happen to any one of us each day. One of our ways of coping is crying tears of pain and anguish. During our struggles with overwhelming trials or loss we may get teary-eyed at any moment as a memory floats through our mind. We may weep as we drive our car to work or walk down the street. In quiet secluded moments tears may gush from our eyes flowing down our cheeks to drench our pillow. Psalms 6:6-7 “I am worn out with pain; every night my pillow is wet with tears.”
Often we will cry as we are on our knees seeking God for comfort and solace. These are all extremely precious tears to God. He values us. He loves us. I know God is Spirit, but in His own way I believe He cries with us and feels our pain deeply.
Psalms 56:8 shows us how much God values our precious tears of pain. It says,
“You have seen me tossing and turning through the night. You have collected all my tears and preserved them in your bottle! You have recorded every one in your book.”
What a verse! It demonstrates to any one of us that God counts as precious any tears we shed when we face our trials and struggles in life. He in essence, preserves these tears so He can remember what we are going through and will face. Possibly when we get to Heaven, He will set us down and He will share with us His pain over the tears we cried. This tells us that we have a Heavenly Father that loves us more than anyone in the universe. We have a Savior that loves us deeply. We also see evidence of how precious tears are to God in Luke 7. Here a woman overcome with emotion for Jesus washed His feet with her tears. Jesus accepted her worship. He valued her tears.
Psalms 126:5 tells us, “Those who sow tears shall reap joy.” Tears eventually will turn to joy when we recognize that God loves us, cares about us and is working on our behalf to bring us comfort. But eventually all painful tears will be done away when we reach our heavenly home.
Revelation 21:3-4
“I heard a loud shout from the throne saying, "Look, the home of God is now among men, and he will live with them and they will be his people; yes, God himself will be among them. He will wipe away all tears from their eyes, and there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying, nor pain.”