My Heart Weeps

I have never been a big crier and I have often wondered if my family and friends may think I am a little hard-hearted. I rarely cry with my eyes, but my heart often weeps. I just keep it in.

It used to bother me that I rarely shed tears. At some point, I realized God allowed me to be in situations where someone had to have their emotions under control. As a minister, I was with people on the worst days of their lives being a shoulder to catch their tears.

Sight unseen, my heart often weeps while my eyes are dry. If you are a crier, you may think this is odd. I did not choose to be this way; I guess, this is how God wired me.

I am not interested in debating whether it is healthy to shed tears or not. I do sometimes cry but it is rare. The better discussion I want to have is, “What makes my heart weep?”

My heart weeps when I see something that I can do little to help. When I stand by, feeling helpless in a situation, it makes my heart weep. I like to fix things and there are some things I just cannot fix. Adding grief to my heart are those who seem to enjoy trouble. There are those who seem to enjoy cursing the darkness rather than lighting a candle.

My heart weeps to see hurting people. My heart weeps when I see a child with a twisted body. My heart weeps when I see the empty eyes of someone who has lost all hope. When I watch a parent bury a child my heart is torn to pieces.

There are many tragedies in this broken world. One that breaks my heart the most is to see an extremely intelligent person who is gifted beyond measure, waste their life on addictions or foolish pursuits. They had the attributes to change the world but for some reason they never changed their own. When I see wasted potential, it really gets under my skin—all the way to my heart.

My heart weeps for my grandchildren who will inherit a nation and a world that seems to be unraveling at its seams.

Often when I look in a mirror, I see the images of others for whom I have cried. I see some of me in some of them. My frailties, faults, failures, and sins make more than my heart weep, it also can bring a rare tear or two.

I am not sure if God cries in Heaven, but I know that Jesus the Son of God wept when He walked the earth. I do not want His heart to weep because of me but I know it has and will.

As much as I know my heart, I do not want my life to bring a tear to anyone or to the heart of God. However, the harsh reality becomes clear, that in pleasing God it often brings tears of displeasure to some and tears of anger to others. One cannot please God and please the world. This too, makes my heart weep.

One of the greatest prophets in the Bible is known as the Weeping Prophet, Jeremiah. This is what he said, “Oh, that my head were waters, And my eyes a fountain of tears, That I might weep day and night For the slain of the daughter of my people” (Jeremiah 9:1 NKJV)! I feel his pain!

Yours on the Journey,

Harry L. Whitt