“My soul melts from heaviness. Strengthen me according to Your word.” Psalm 119:28 NKJV
Characteristically, my blog essays deal with victory over trials—the victory of the indwelling Jesus Christ via His Holy Spirit. At all times God’s spiritual attributes reside in my soul, as well in the souls of all who belong to Him. When and if we focus on the Lord through His Word, His love, peace, and joy will flow from us.
Yet, in my zeal to reflect and express the life of the Lord Jesus Christ, it has occurred to me that I sometimes overlook or downplay the blatant fact of our universally shared humanity.
Yes, we have victory. Yes, God is all powerful, and He provides all we need for wherever He has placed us to serve and honor Him. But also, “yes” we are human—broken vessels, vulnerable to pain and sorrow, prone to seasons of weeping.
We are not unfeeling robots, mechanically spewing out truths through a plastic, pasted-on smile. We are people. Sometimes we CRY! If we never cried, we would never be qualified to come alongside another grieving individual who needs a quiet, understanding friend.
Jesus wept for His beloved friend, Lazarus. Jeremiah wept for his sinful, fallen nation. And numerous Psalmists wept over their own pain and sorrow. Sometimes WE weep, yes even for OURSELVES.
Recently I had a lapse of weeping for myself. Right in the midst of a series of victory laps where God’s palpable presence and joy had prevailed, I succumbed to tears for my self—as currently I literally have only one leg to stand on. As if my mini-infirmity matters at all in the vast scheme of things.
As I wept tears of frustration, knowing all the time that God is in control and He will never leave me comfortless, it dawned on me that I was weeping not just for my invalid self but also for the lost, pain ridden world. In this sudden flood of tears, God reinforced the fact that I am not a robot, nor am I beyond or above the pathos of the human race!
Yes, we have victory in the Lord Jesus Christ. Yes, He will never forsake us. And yes, we are humans saved by Grace. As sinners saved by Grace we are never to lose our capacity to love and come alongside the shared sorrow of humanity. When we are broken, when our strength is revealed as utter and absolute weakness, God shines through in all His glory.
“For it is God Who commanded light to shine out of darkness, Who has shone in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency may be of God and not of ourselves. We are hard pressed on either side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair, persecuted but not forsaken, struck down but not destroyed—always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus may be manifested in our body. 2 Corinthians 4:6-10 NKJV
Margaret L. Been — December 2nd, 2018
(First published on November 19th in my blog: GOD’S WORD IS TRUE)