I Feel Like Crying

Richard Hollerman

Tears are such a common lot in life but I don’t know what to even ask about it. What does God want me to know about this dreadful experience of crying?

Maybe you sometimes come to the point in your life that you would just like to breakdown and weep. I remember the popular song, “Tears are a language that God understands!” Indeed, God knows why we are crying and He does understand.

In this regard, we remember the verse in Psalm 56:8 that says it well: “You have taken account of my wanderings; put my tears in Your bottle. Are they not in Your book?” Also, as the footnote of my Bible says, “God is attentive to every detail of his life.” God knows what we are going through and He knows what we need in light of this.

Crying can be described in various ways. One popular source puts it this way, in somewhat sophisticated terms: “Crying or weeping is the shedding of tears (or welling of tears in the eyes) in response to an emotional state, pain or a physical irritation of the eye. Emotions that can lead to crying include sadness, anger, and even happiness. The act of crying has been defined as “a complex secretomotor phenomenon characterized by the shedding of tears from the lacrimal apparatus, without any irritation of the ocular structures”, instead, giving a relief which protects from conjunctivitis.” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crying).

You may say that this sort of involved definition is not at all what you had in mind—and I can understand this. You and I sometimes feel like crying because of an inner urge and pain that can be intense!

Do you cry? Maybe the question is: Do you often feel like crying?  We read this:

According to the German Society of Ophthalmology, which has collated different scientific studies on crying, the average woman cries between 30 and 64 times a year, and the average man cries between 6 and 17 times a year.

Men tend to cry for between two and four minutes, and women cry for about six minutes. Crying turns into sobbing for women in 65% of cases, compared to just 6% for men. Until adolescence, however, no difference between the sexes was found.

The gap between how often men and women cry is larger in wealthier, more democratic, and feminine countries.

(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crying)

We know that tears may come in various ways and dimensions and at various times for different reasons. Consider this:

• You may receive a dreadful report from your physician that your body has been invaded by a terrible disease.
• You may lose your job—the job that you depended on to support your family.
• You may have a house in which you lived and either you could not continue the regular payments or you could not keep up the maintenance.
• Your husband or wife may desert you, leaving you after five or ten or more years. Now you are alone. You may feel defeated and hopeless in light of all of this.
• Your children may fall into various wicked activities—drugs, fast cars, dropping out of school, being thrown out of school, causing herself or her boyfriend to have a child out of wedlock.

Of course, many other things could happen—all of which has brought you to tears and a feeling of hopelessness. You wonder, “I can I go on in light of these terrible circumstances that have befallen me?” Thus, this brings you to tears and an inner sorrow. The despair seems unbearable. How can you view all of this and still go on?

Because of all of this, you cry out to God and seek His help, His presence, His solutions, and His power. You then turn to the Scriptures, and what do you find? The Bible has been your constant companion, thus surely there is some refuge here.  This is what you find:

The righteous cry, and the LORD hears

And delivers them out of all their troubles.

The LORD is near to the brokenhearted

And saves those who are crushed in spirit.

Many are the afflictions of the righteous,

But the LORD delivers him out of them all

(Psalm 34:17-19)

These comforting and encouraging words do lift up our spirits and with them we may trust!

As we face the trials of life, we do have One who cares for us and will help us. Although we may weep, let us go on. It may be that we will cry from our heart because of the difficulties of life and the overwhelming pressures to capitulate to Satan’s designs, we may look to God and find refuge. Is this what you do? This is what we can do!

Yes, we may lose our house. We may have a wreck and lose our car. We may be dismissed from our job through no fault of our own. We may suffer debilitating illness or experience injury of many kinds.
We may be rejected by people we considered to be our friends. We may lose those near to us—including a beloved husband, a dear wife, our children, and others. We may discover that our “church family” has been untrue or has not submitted to the Lord. In all of these and dozens of other ways, we may be left alone, sad, unwanted, rejected, sick, or even confused.

But if we have God, this is sufficient. I used to have a placard on my wall that stated:

If we have Christ, we have enough!

This may be more true than we might imagine!  I find other statements that encourage the heart:

Now rest in this fact: it is not a matter of if I am enough, but if I trust that Christ is enough. (https://www.livingfreeindeed.com/2017/06/03/verses-why-christ-sufficient-for-us/)

I find another scripture that touches the heart:

“My Grace Is Sufficient for You” (2 Corinthians 12:9)

We read the scripture (2 Corinthians 3:5) that says, “Our adequacy is from God.” But is He? Does he meet our needs and do we find in Him what we really need in life?

I know that this doesn’t solve all of our problems. We may still feel like crying. In fact, we may lament and be filled with sorrow. But we may know that the Lord is near to us and will “carry” us through the problems of life whatever their nature! Let us trust in Him! Let us find in Christ our “all” in every circumstance of life (cf. Colossians 3:14).

As I look at my life with its various problems and concerns, I often feel like weeping.  We wonder why God would allow unwanted circumstances in life, but there they are. What can we do about them? Although I may not often cry, I must confess that I often do feel like crying. This is the reason for the title of this article. We wonder why our life is the way it is. Even song doesn’t solve the problem and may be incongruous in light of the situation.

But let’s not despair. Let’s trust that God knows and cares. We may console ourselves with the fact that a better day is coming, a day of joy and gladness! I recall a scripture that you may recognize: “Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning” (Psalm 30:5). Or to use the NASB, “Weeping may last for the night, but a shout of joy comes in the morning.”

We know that tears may come for various reasons—the the loss of a husband or wife, the loss of a child, the loss of a parent, or the loss of a close friend. Or actually, we may feel like crying (as the title suggests) even when the tears are absent or crying just don’t seem to come. This inner depression and sorrow may not be accompanied with actual tears—but we want to cry and the tears won’t come. Maybe you have experienced this yourself.

This is the way with us. It is true that the vast majority of people (people who cry because of many different circumstances) think that “things will get better” but actually they will be thrown into the lake of fire (Revelation 20:11-15; 21:8), but if you are a true child of God, walking in truth, righteousness, and love, things will get better. Your tears will be wiped away by the loving hand of God (cf. Revelation 21:4).

Let’s read and ponder Revelation 21 and 22. We may find sweet consolation there and find peace and rest. May God bless you, my dear friend!