My heart hurts

My heart hurts. It brings Jesus to mind because His heart hurt too. When His good friend, Lazarus, died, and then Jesus talked with his sisters, He cried, along with Mary and the Jews that were comforting her. But "Jesus' weeping differed from that of the people. His quiet shedding of tears (edakrysen) differed from their loud wailing (klaiontas, v.33). His weeping was over the tragic consequences of sin."1

When I look at circumstances surrounding me, I see the sin that is causing turmoil, and my heart breaks. Certainly, it impacts me in painful ways, and in many ways I also relate to Mary who was weeping because of the pain in her circumstances, and because the One man she knew could have helped, didn't come in her timing.

My heart sometimes hurts more deeply than necessary because my faith, like Mary's, is limited. I know Jesus promises to save me when I need to be saved and call on Him (Romans 10.13, "For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved"), but my limited faith and developing my own ideas of what being "saved" looks like keep me from resting in that promise.

Like Mary mourning the death of her brother for four days, believing his death to be beyond Jesus' saving, she lost hope. My circumstances may look similar and sometimes feel beyond Jesus' saving, but as I weep over the "tragic consequences of sin" that encircle my circumstances, I must also fill my heart and mind with the Truth of who Jesus is and what He promises me.

The Truth is, it is never too late for resurrection. The Truth is, He will save me in His perfect timing in a perfect way when I'm trusting Him (Rom. 10.13). The Truth is, everything will work together for good when God has called us to Himself and we respond out of love for Him (Rom. 8.28). Feel free to comment with more Truth. It's the Truth that will set us free (Jn. 8.32).

Let's keep filling our minds with Truth allowing our faith to grow strong.



1Walvoord, John F. & Roy B. Zuck. The Bible Knowledge Commentary. Cook Communications: Colorado Springs, CO; 2000.