Friday - Jeremiah 9 - Do You Want to Cry?

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HERE are our tears? I cry tears of joy when I catch a real glimpse of what God has done for me. I cry tears of weariness when the number of meaningful things that remain undone begins to mount exponentially. And, I cry tears of sadness when I see my Christian siblings suffering. But, do we cry because of the sin of unbelievers? Jeremiah was a weeping prophet, but even he saw the need for more tears in this regard. He felt that it would have been appropriate for him to weep day and night over the sin and death that was all around him (Jeremiah 9:1-2). This kind of a burden would surely have to be divinely laid. Our hearts are too hard and our senses too dull to feel this weight naturally. But (1) the God’s wrath against evil & (2) the pain that is to be endured by evil men are both worthy of our tears.

Is it even possible to cry on purpose? We can laugh on purpose and can thereby sometimes even muster some feelings that match our smile. Can the same be done with melancholy? Jeremiah 9:10 & 17-20 sure indicate that our tears for the lost should be intentional.  Men's souls are too valuable for us to wait until we develop an emotional burden for them.  Damnation is pending.  Death is seeping over the windowsills (Jeremiah 9:21). Our world is filling up with the uncircumcised of heart (Jeremiah 9:26). Men are thrilled with things that are not worth our passion.  Too few (among the people around us) know their Maker. And that, of course, is the most important thing in the whole world (Jeremiah 9:23- 24).  Let us all pray that God would increase our burden for sinners.  And, as we await that infusion, let us lament before God because it is the right thing to do, whether we feel it fully or not.