Prayer of Tears
Psalm 56:8 (The Living Bible)
We’ve started a new series called ‘When you pray…’ and over the next few weeks we’re going to be looking at this thing we call prayer and the different types of prayer that are available to us. But what I didn’t want to do is to fall into the same old trap of going over, what for many people will be familiar ground. You know often when we talk about prayer we get stuck in the same old rut of adoration, confession, thanksgiving etc, etc, etc. We will be including some of those, and Andrew Price kindly kicked off the series for us last week with the prayer of adoration. But prayer is much bigger than just those things, prayer is much bigger than just words uttered toward God. So we’re going to be looking at a few other aspects of prayer as well. Our future as a fellowship has to be birthed in prayer, all kinds of prayer, not just the usual shopping list of our wants and desires. Not just the usual ramblings of adoration, confession, thanksgiving, prayers that are filled with constantly repeated, empty, meaningless words, but prayer that comes from the heart, prayer that cries out to God from our inner being. Heartfelt prayer that reaches out and touches God and moves God to action, and today is one of those days as we look at the prayer of tears!
Read Psalm 56 (The Living Bible)
Verse 8 the NIV translates as ‘Record my lament; list my tears on your scroll, are they not in your record’. The King James says, ‘Thou tellest my wanderings; put my tears into thy bottle, are they not in thy book’. The Contemporary English Version (CEV) says, ‘You have kept record of my days of wandering. You have stored my tears in your bottle and counted each of them’. But I prefer the translation that I read from, the Living Bible, ‘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’!
As I was studying this week I came across this illustration.
One day, I woke early in the morning to watch the sunrise. Oh the beauty of God’s creation is beyond description. As I watched, I praised God for His beautiful work. As I sat there, I felt the Lord’s presence with me. He asked me, "Do you love me?" I answered, "Of course, God! You are my Lord and Saviour!"
Then He asked, "If you were physically handicapped, would you still love me?" I was perplexed. I looked down upon my arms, legs and the rest of my body and wondered how many things I wouldn’t be able to do, the things that I took for granted. And I answered, "It would be tough Lord, but I would still love You."
Then the Lord said, "If you were blind, would you still love my creation?" How could I love something without being able to see it? Then I thought of all the blind people in the world and how many of them still loved God and His creation. So I answered, "It’s hard to think of it, but I would still love you."
The Lord then asked me, "If you were deaf, would you still listen to my word?" How could I listen to anything being deaf? Then I understood. Listening to God’s Word is not merely using our ears, but our hearts. I answered, "It would be tough, but I would still listen to Your word."
The Lord then asked, "If you were mute, would you still praise My Name?" How could I praise without a voice? Then it occurred to me: God wants us to sing from our very heart and soul. It never matters what we sound like. And praising God is not always with a song, but when we are persecuted, we give God praise with our words of thanks. So I answered, "Though I could not physically sing, I would still praise Your Name."
And the Lord asked, "Do you really love Me?" With courage and a strong conviction, I answered boldly, "Yes Lord! I love You because You are the one and true God!" I thought I had answered well, but God asked, "THEN WHY DO YOU SIN?" I answered, "Because I am only human. I am not perfect." "THEN WHY IN TIMES OF PEACE DO YOU STRAY THE FURTHEST? WHY ONLY IN TIMES OF TROUBLE DO YOU PRAY IN EARNEST?"
I had no answers. Only tears.
The Lord continued: "Why only sing at fellowships and retreats? Why seek Me only in times of worship? Why ask things so selfishly? Why ask things so unfaithfully?"
The tears continued to roll down my cheeks.
"Why are you ashamed of Me? Why are you not spreading the good news? Why in times of persecution, you cry to others when I offer My shoulder to cry on? Why make excuses when I give you opportunities to serve in My Name?"
I tried to answer, but there was no answer to give. Only tears!
"DO YOU TRULY LOVE ME?"
Never had I cried so hard before. How could I have been so cold? How could I have hurt God as I had done? I asked God, "How much do You love me?" He stretched out His arms, and I saw His nail-pierced hands. I bowed down at the feet of Christ, my Saviour. And for the first time, with tears rolling down my face, I truly prayed.
Hard man
Now I consider myself quite a hard man, I’ve got quite a hard history. I have an older brother, so I spent my childhood having constant fist fights with him. I became a teddy-boy in Bristol in the height of the punk era – hung around in gangs and all that that entails. I joined the army at 16, and for the next 14 years I was trained to play hard, to think hard, to work hard, to train hard. I became hard headed and hard hearted – I had to be – it was part of the job - one day my country might require me to pull the trigger in anger – and you have to be pretty hard to do that.
Then in the last ever bible study that I had in the army, it was a Wednesday night and we were moving back to the UK on the Friday. And at the end of the evening the guy leading the study leaned over to me and he said – ‘God just spoke to me very clearly, and he wants me to tell you that he has seen your hard heart – and there’s a breaking on it’s way’. Well of course I was hard – in many ways I was quite proud of my hardness. Yes I went to church, yes I believed in God, yes I worshipped and went to the bible study. But I wasn’t going to let God get to close to me – I was strong, I was independent, I was a stalwart member of society, I was a soldier! Breaking? What breaking.
We moved back to the UK on the Friday and we stayed for the weekend with Michelle’s parents in Clevedon, Bristol. And on the Sunday night I went to the evening service at the Baptist Church. I went in and sat at the back – and from the moment they started to sing, I sobbed like a baby. I couldn’t sing, I couldn’t stand, I couldn’t pray, I couldn’t take in what the sermon was about – I just wept, and wept, and wept for 2 hours! But when I left that place, I felt like a different person. I knew I had been touched by God in an incredible way. It was as if God was saying, ‘Ok, the army is gone, no need for this hardness anymore, let’s start getting you ready for the next stage of your life’.
I didn’t lose all my hardness over night –that was 15 years ago – some people would say that I am still quite hard – I am - but as the years have gone by, and as I have learnt to draw closer and closer to God – I find the tears come easier and easier and far more frequently.
When the Spirit of God, when the Divine Spirit, touches the human spirit – often tears will flow.
Some of the hardest men I know – when they are touched by the Spirit of God – have been reduced to tears – they don’t understand it, they can’t fathom it, they don’t know why or how – and they have come to me for an explanation as for why they’ve gone from being hard, tough men, to jibbering wrecks - and all I can say is ‘welcome to the club’.
Uncomfortable tears
‘You have collected all my tears and preserved them in your bottle! You have recorded every one in your book’!
We’re not very comfortable with tears are we. We’ve grown up within a society that’s tells us that tears are a sign of weakness. That tears are for those who are soft, tears show vulnerability, tears are a sign of defeat. When I was growing up, we were taught that "Real men don’t cry." And you’re told things like "Get control of yourself," “grow up”, “stop being a baby”, "Stop crying" so eventually we do! And we become hard, and callous, and cold.
But you know tears are very biblical.
Job 16:20 – ‘My eye pours out tears to God’.
Isaiah 16:9 – ‘I weep with the weeping of Jazer; I drench you with my tears, O Heshbon and Elealeh’.
Jeremiah 9:1 – The weeping prophet – ‘O that my head were a spring of water, and my eyes a fountain of tears, so that I might weep day and night for the slain of my poor people’.
Lamentations 2:18 – ‘Cry aloud to the Lord! O wall of daughter Zion! Let tears stream down like a torrent day and night! Give yourself no rest, your eyes no respite’.
Psalm 6:6 – The psalmist cries out, ‘Every night I flood my bed with tears; I drench my couch with my weeping’. In Psalm 42 he says, ‘my tears have been my food day and night’ and then in Psalm 119, ‘my eyes shed streams of tears because you law is not kept.’
According to Acts 20 the Apostle Paul went to Asia ‘serving the Lord with all humility and with tears’. To the Church at Corinth he declared ‘I wrote you out of much distress and anguish of heart and with many tears’. And to his prodigy ‘Timothy’ he says ‘night and day I constantly remember you in my prayers, recalling your tears’.
I want to remind you of your tears
Could he write the same about you do you think? Could the Apostle Paul, or anyone else for that matter, write to you and say, ‘I want to remind you of the tears you have shed for your ministry. I want to remind you of the tears you have shed for the lost-ness of mankind. I want to remind you of the tears you have shed for your neighbour, work colleague, family member. I want to remind you of the tears you have shed for the injustice of the world, or for your own worthless, sinful, godless attitude. Is there anyone that can write to you and say - I want to remind you of your tears…’ Or are there no tears for you to be reminded of because, after all, real men don’t cry – or in the words of the Four Seasons song ‘Big girls don’t cry’.
We are a tearless people, we are a hard hearted people. Yet here in Psalm 56 David, talking to God, says, ‘You have collected all my tears and preserved them in your bottle! You have recorded every one in your book’! What a statement! What a picture. You know in ancient egypt and palestine, it was the custom for people to collect the tears that they shed as they mourned the death of a loved one in what they called a tear bottle. And these bottles would be placed in the coffin or tomb with the deceased as a sign of their devotion. During the American Civil War, the women would collect their tears in tear bottles and they saved them until the men returned from battle. These tear bottle would show the men how much they were adored and missed and they spoke volumes to the returning husbands.
In Revelation 7 it tells us that in heaven their will be no more crying - And as comforting as it is to know that God will one day wipe away every tear from our eyes, the psalmist reminds us that our tears here on earth do not go unnoticed by him. God keeps count of our sorrowful struggling; each tear that we cry is recorded by God and he collects them in his bottle until the day when tears will be no more.
Tears are a language that God understands
Tears are a language that God understands. Tears speak more about what our hearts feel than any words could ever express. Those tiny drops of humanity that tumble from our eyes, creep down our cheeks carry the message that our hearts ache and hurt and are broken. Tears are the messengers that substitute for our crippled words and they spill forth carrying our deepest emotions. A tearstain on a letter speaks more than words ever could, Amen? A tear falling on a coffin says what a spoken farewell never could, Amen? What is there that catches the attention of a parent quicker than a tear on the cheeks of a child? What gives more support than the tears on the face of a friend as we pour out our troubles to them? When words just won’t come – it’s our tears that shout out to God.
I want to tell you that Tears are a language that God understands!
1. Wasn’t it the tears and the burden of the Israelites that moved God to remember his people and set them free from Egyptian bondage?
2. Wasn’t it the tears of a preacher’s widow that moved God to provide for her needs by filling all the empty vessels with oil?
3. Wasn’t it the tears of a little mother who had just lost her son to grab hold of the feet of the prophet and refuse to let go until God moved on her circumstances and raised her son from the dead?
4. Wasn’t it the tears of parents that moved the Son of the Living God Jesus to heal the infirmities in their children and cast out demons?
5. Wasn’t it the Lamb of God himself who wept on the outskirts of Jerusalem because He wanted so much to save them?
Hezekiah was broken, and condemned and God had already pronounced the death penalty on his life. But he turned his face toward God, he repented of his ways, he prayed and he wept bitterly. And the most amazing response came from God he said “ I have heard your prayer and (listen) I have seen your tears, indeed I will heal you”. Friends, your tears can break the heart of God. It doesn’t take long for God to respond to a tearful heart.
So what sort of things should we get tearful about? What sort of things should move us to seek Gods face with the prayer of tears? Well there are lots of things but I just want to very quickly highlight 3. Three times that we are told that Jesus wept.
1. He wept for His friend - John 11:35 - Standing before the tomb, sensing the heartbreak around
Him, Jesus wept. Knowing that in a moment He would perform the greatest miracle so far. He would bring back to life a man rotting in the tomb, and yet He wept at the sorrow and anguish that sin and death brought in its path.
Lazarus, Martha, and Mary were close personal friends of Jesus. And Jesus could see their distress, he could see their pain, he could see their sense of hopelessness. And it moved him to tears.
And you know God has placed each one of you in a unique position. You are where no-one else is or can be. Surrounded by family and friends and people that no-one else is surrounded by. People in distress, people in pain, people living in hopelessness, people who you love and have compassion for but who are facing death and an eternity without Christ. And their hopelessness should move you to tears. Their lostness should drive you to your knees, sobbing and pleading with God for their salvation.
Do you cry over the lostness of your friends and family? Do you shed tears for their hopelessness? Do you come before God with the prayer of tears on behalf of the people around you.
2. He wept for His people – Luke 19:41-44; Matthew 23:37 – Luke 19 - ‘As Jesus drew near to the city of Jerusalem he wept over it saying "If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace!! But now they are hidden from your eyes. In Matthew 23, he cried out, ‘O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing.’
Here stands Jesus outside Jerusalem weeping for his people because they had become cold and callous, and religious and they had rejected Him. He wept because his people who had been so blessed were being so stubborn.
Would he weep over Orchard do you think? Would he stand outside the church walls and say, ‘‘O Orchard, Orchard, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing.’ Or would he say, ‘Welcome my good and trusted servant’.
You know I weep over Orchard. I shed tears over this fellowship. I weep over some of the stubborness I encounter amongst the people. I weep over the critical spirit that is so prominent here – every choice, every decision that is made is criticised. I weep over the lack of a genuine love and compassion for one another. Jesus said, ‘This is how people will know that you are my disciples, that you love one another’. He goes on to say, ‘this command I give you… love one another as I have loved you’. Do we do that here? Do we care about each other? Do we have compassion for one another? Do we really love one another in a way that reflects Gods love for us?
I shed tears over this fellowship for many reasons. Do you? Should you? Does Jesus?
3. He wept for the world – Hebrews 5:7; Luke 22:43 – Hebrews 5:7 says, ‘During his days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him from death.’ Jesus wept for the whole world of lost and ruined human beings. In the garden of Gethsemane the tears rolled down mingled with blood, so great was His agony as He tormented over a lost and fallen world.
You don’t have to look too hard at our world today to see how far it has fallen. The injustice, the cruelty, the wars, the famines, the suffering. Our fellow human beings being crushed, and squeezed and broken.
The Apostle Paul writes, “For, as I have often told you before and now say again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is on earthly things.’ That’s the state of the world, that’s the state of our nation. That’s the state of our community. Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, their glory is in their shame.
Do we weep for them, do we shed tears that they too might know him? Are we a church that loves like that?
There was a little girl who one day was late coming home for supper. Her mother made the expected irate parent’s demand to know where she had been.
The little girl replied that she had stopped to help Janie, whose bicycle was broken in a fall. "But you don’t know anything about fixing bicycles," her mother responded. "I know that," the girl said. "I just stopped to help her cry."
The prayer of tears. Weeping with a lost and hurting world, weeping for a lost and broken world.
Conclusion
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’!
Orchard is on the verge of something great, Orchard is on the verge of receiving great blessings from the hand of God. And any revival that breaks forth has to have it’s roots planted in prayer. Our future must be birthed in prayer. But prayers filled with empty, meaningless words will not suffice. Prayers that are filled with words will not bring about revival. Our prayers must go beyond words and into the deep longing of our hearts.
Let me finish with this story.
The Salvation Army was holding a convention. Morale was at all-time low. The organization had hit rock bottom. They did not know what to do. They sent a telegram to their founding father, William Booth, asking for any advice he could give on how they could get back on their feet.
William Booth sent back a telegram with two words: "Try tears!" When they did, revival came to the Salvation Army. We can talk about revival, preach about revival, pray for revival, but revival never comes until desperation comes, and the sign of desperation will be the tears of our eyes, and the brokenness of our heart.
The prayer of tears - You have collected all my tears and preserved them in your bottle! And God says, ‘I have heard your prayer and seen your tears – and I will heal you’
