Few of us can endure our children’s hard times without shedding tears. I recall a night when I had to tell a hard-nosed, successful businessman that his son had relapsed into the murky world of alcoholism and drug abuse. He screamed into the phone, then shouted unanswerable questions, then broke down into wracking sobs.
I know about shedding such tears—and so does God. Searching for what the Bible says about weeping can bring great comfort.
Jesus wept. . . . He groaned in the spirit and was troubled.
—JOHN 11:35, 33
I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears.
—2 KINGS 20:5
My eyes pour out tears to God.
—JOB 16:20
Are they not in Your book?
When I cry out to You,
Then my enemies will turn back;
This I know because God is for me.
In God (I will praise His word),
In the LORD (I will praise His word),
In God I have put my trust;
I will not be afraid.
—PSALM 56:8–11
Those who sow in tears
Shall reap in joy.
He who continually goes forth weeping,
Bearing seed for sowing,
Shall doubtless come again with rejoicing,
Bringing his sheaves with him.
—PSALM 126:5–6
Weeping may endure for a night,
But joy comes in the morning.
—PSALM 30:5
Refrain your voice from weeping, and your eyes from tears; for your work shall be rewarded, says the LORD, and they shall come back from the land of the enemy. There is hope in your future, says the LORD, that your children will come back to their own border.
—JEREMIAH 31:16–17
It is not possible that the son of such tears should be lost.
—FROM AUGUSTINE’S CONFESSIONS, SPOKEN TO MONICA
BY HER PASTOR REGARDING HER WAYWARD SON, AUGUSTINE
—THOMAS WATSON, SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY PURITAN
Your tears are precious to God. He specializes in hearing tearful prayer and in healing broken hearts.