sokin's devotional 88 - weep no more
Then he said to them, “Go your way. Eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions to anyone who has nothing ready, for this day is holy to our Lord. And do not be grieved, for the joy of the LORD is your strength.”
Nehemiah 8:10
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After finishing the walls of Jerusalem, Ezra the priest was called upon to read the book of the Law before the people of God. It's almost cinematic in my mind at how epic this moment must've been. Imagining the situation here doesn't surprise me that the immediate response of the people hearing the word of God was that of weeping.
Imagine yourself in their shoes.
They had just finished months of hard labor. Their backs ached and their fingers were cracked from the work of building the walls back up. They were emotionally and mentally stressed because the threat of opposition was always present. Their weapons still stood close by their side.
Standing within the newly completed walls, they saw Ezra open the book of the law. They heard Ezra read out and explain the history of God's people in the wilderness and how God saved them from the clutches of past rulers and kings. They heard how God gave them food to eat and water to drink, and they heard the commands of God upon the people to honor Him and love Him first and foremost.
Immediately though, as they heard this, their eyes fell to the ground. They knew that they had not kept that law. They knew, even from the examination of their own lives, that they were sinners and they deserved wrath.
But then, they looked around them and saw how God was faithful to them. The walls that surrounded them surely reminded them of God's powerful embrace over His people.
God was good even while they were not. He kept His promises! They had not kept theirs.
Thus, weeping and grieving over sin was the appropriate and right response. But they were told to "not mourn or weep."
Why?
Grieving over sin is good indication of heart transformation. Confessing of sins with mere lips while the heart is not tuned to the weight of the trespass will yield little fruit.
But to remain in a state of mourning is not an ultimate biblical design. We sometimes give charismatic Christians a bad rap for being overly joyful and not "grieved" enough. But it goes the same the other way around. You can't just have grief and a soul weighed down by weight of sin. Eventually, it should produce joy. Hope in affliction. Beauty in the broken.
Joy is a firmly rooted and God-given, God-directed response for the people of God.
This passage reminded me of Ecclesiastes 3:4 - "a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance."
There are seasons of life that we all face. Some are of mourning. We can weep, wail, and sit in our brokenness.
The gospel of Jesus Christ not only includes the weight and offense of sin in it's story, but it culminates with victorious joy. Our God is faithful! He has redeemed us! He is faithful while we are/were faithless!
Weeping and sorrow may last for the night, but joy comes in the morning.
So yes, we can mourn, we can weep. But at a certain point, we must hope and pray that we would stop feeling bad for ourselves, lift up our heads and rejoice because the joy of the Lord will be our strength.
Lord! May it be so.
Nehemiah 8:10
---
After finishing the walls of Jerusalem, Ezra the priest was called upon to read the book of the Law before the people of God. It's almost cinematic in my mind at how epic this moment must've been. Imagining the situation here doesn't surprise me that the immediate response of the people hearing the word of God was that of weeping.
Imagine yourself in their shoes.
They had just finished months of hard labor. Their backs ached and their fingers were cracked from the work of building the walls back up. They were emotionally and mentally stressed because the threat of opposition was always present. Their weapons still stood close by their side.
Standing within the newly completed walls, they saw Ezra open the book of the law. They heard Ezra read out and explain the history of God's people in the wilderness and how God saved them from the clutches of past rulers and kings. They heard how God gave them food to eat and water to drink, and they heard the commands of God upon the people to honor Him and love Him first and foremost.
Immediately though, as they heard this, their eyes fell to the ground. They knew that they had not kept that law. They knew, even from the examination of their own lives, that they were sinners and they deserved wrath.
But then, they looked around them and saw how God was faithful to them. The walls that surrounded them surely reminded them of God's powerful embrace over His people.
God was good even while they were not. He kept His promises! They had not kept theirs.
Thus, weeping and grieving over sin was the appropriate and right response. But they were told to "not mourn or weep."
Why?
Grieving over sin is good indication of heart transformation. Confessing of sins with mere lips while the heart is not tuned to the weight of the trespass will yield little fruit.
But to remain in a state of mourning is not an ultimate biblical design. We sometimes give charismatic Christians a bad rap for being overly joyful and not "grieved" enough. But it goes the same the other way around. You can't just have grief and a soul weighed down by weight of sin. Eventually, it should produce joy. Hope in affliction. Beauty in the broken.
Joy is a firmly rooted and God-given, God-directed response for the people of God.
This passage reminded me of Ecclesiastes 3:4 - "a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance."
There are seasons of life that we all face. Some are of mourning. We can weep, wail, and sit in our brokenness.
The gospel of Jesus Christ not only includes the weight and offense of sin in it's story, but it culminates with victorious joy. Our God is faithful! He has redeemed us! He is faithful while we are/were faithless!
Weeping and sorrow may last for the night, but joy comes in the morning.
So yes, we can mourn, we can weep. But at a certain point, we must hope and pray that we would stop feeling bad for ourselves, lift up our heads and rejoice because the joy of the Lord will be our strength.
Lord! May it be so.
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