It’s Okay to Cry
Are you a movie lover?
Lately, my husband and I have been watching a lot of movies (probably because football season hasn’t started yet). He finds them on cable and saves them on the DVR for our evening viewing entertainment.
I love a movie that evokes some kind of emotion and find myself shedding a few tears if the character I’ve grown attached to, dies. I am the same girl who bawled when Frosty the Snowman melted. Thankfully, Frosty said, “Don’t you cry, I’ll be back again some day.”
Did you know it’s okay to cry?
Many times we hold back tears, or think if people see us boo-hooing they’ll label us “weak.” But crying is a God-given emotion. In fact, God knows about every tear we’ve shed.
King David said to God, “Record my misery; list my tears on your scroll — are they not in your record?” (Psalm 56:8)
The Apostle Paul often talked about crying. In Acts 20:19 he said, “I served the Lord with great humility and with tears…” Paul cared so much about the people he ministered to that he often cried when trying to get his message across. “Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears” (Acts 20:31).
Jesus wasn’t afraid to show emotion. In Hebrews 5:7 it said he offered up his “prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears to the one who could save him from death.”
God says it’s okay if our prayers are laced with tears. If we were not meant to cry, he wouldn’t have invented “tear ducts.”
I believe crying is a form of release and cleansing. If you are going through something difficult, crying will unleash the built-up tension in your body. The prophet Jeremiah, often labeled “the weeping prophet,” wailed after his people, the Israelites, were carried off into captivity. “My eyes fail from weeping, I am in torment within; my heart is poured out on the ground because my people are destroyed” (Lamentations 2:11).
Here’s the good news. One day, there will be no reason to cry. All of the pain, the death, the disease, and the addictions will be non-existent. And it is promised that God will wipe every tear from our eyes (Revelation 21:7).
Until then, let it go. Especially in your prayers to God.
Tearfully pray for your prodigal.
For that loved one who is sick.
Allow tears to cover your heartbreaks.
The Lord desires this kind of humility and transparency when you enter his presence. He’s taking note of every tear and wants to offer comfort to your forlorn soul.