God's big handkerchief

When I pulled up my chair next to her hospital bed, I saw the track of tears down the sides of her face. Complications of cancer caused her to be confined to an extended care facility. "It’s a nice place, but it’s not home," she told me when I asked her how it was. When she tried to sit up, a grimace of pain creased her face, so she fell back onto her pillow. As we talked about her suffering, she told me about other hardships and the tears renewed their march down the side of her face. She told of a husband who walked out of her life when she had two preschoolers and a baby, saying, “Tell the kids I died.” With a forced smile, she tried to be brave, “But, it’s not all bad, is it?” As I reached out for her hand, tears were wetting my face, too!
Sin and Satan visit terrible suffering and continual pain on this planet that Adam sub-let to them with his disobedience. Yes, too, our choices bring unforeseen and/or unintended consequences that increase that pain. To be sure, it’s not all darkness. There is joy in knowing love, sweetness found in worship, the reward of creating something out of the chaos. And there is a wonderful, wonderful promise that waits for all those who know the Savior. When the struggle’s over, God will draw us close, pull out his big handkerchief, and dry our tears!

Well, maybe not exactly like that, but that is the mental picture that forms in my mind when I read this passage: "I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” (Revelation 21:3-5, NIV)

There are days, disciple, when it simply hurts to be alive too deeply for words. At those times, we need to pray for protection from cynicism that turns us into ugly, mean people. We must trust in Somebody bigger than you or I to keep our faith intact. We can hope for that time when all the tears are wiped away. Gordon Jensen wrote a song with this memorable line, “God weeps along with man and takes him by the hand, tears are a language God understands.” Are the tears ready to fall today? Has the disappointment, the pain, the unrelenting struggle with the curse of sin nearly broken you in two?

Go ahead and cry. Find a place alone with Him and let the tears that fall become a wordless prayer for renewal of hope, for healing, for forgiveness. Then, give thanks for the grace to stand and the hope that He will, like the wonderful and loving Father He is, someday wipe every tear, and even the memory of those things which make you cry, from your eyes forever.
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There is coming a day
When no heartaches shall come,
No more clouds in the sky,
No more tears to dim the eye.
All is peace forevermore
On that happy, golden shore.
What a day, glorious day that will be.

What a day that will be
When my Jesus I shall see,
When I look upon His face,
The One who saved me by His grace.
When He takes me by the hand,
And leads me through the Promised Land,
What a day, glorious day that will be.

There'll be no sorrow there,
No more burdens to bear,
No more sickness, no pain,
No more parting over there.
And forever I will be
With the One who died for me.
What a day, glorious day that will be.
What A Day That Will Be
Hill, Jim
© 1955. Renewed 1983 Ben Speer Music (Admin. by Integrated Copyright Group, Inc.)
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