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Topic: TEARS - (as in crying) (10/04/04)
TITLE: Tears By Robin Wisch 10/09/04 |
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Somewhere in the pre-dawn darkness, a young man listened to the halting breathing of his dear bride. Slowly, as sunlight arose, he caught the silhouette of her frail body ravaged by its cancerous disease. Caringly, he wrapped his arms around her.
He thought back to the night before. Standing behind a door, he listened to his wife. “Why have you abandoned me, Lord? Do You not hear my groaning? My Jesus …where are You?”
He waited. Shortly, he heard the angelic voice of his bride of ten years, “I love you, Lord…” Tears muffled the rest. Again, he heard “… my glory and the lifter of my…” More tears followed with a brief, but distinct shriek of pain. A violent coughing episode followed. “I love you, Lord…” her tiny voice finally squeaked.
From Heaven
“Hush! Listen and watch! We angels do not often get to experience our Lord like this,” whispered one of the angels. “I know,” the other responded quietly, “but I just wonder how they can say such things to their Creator.” “We can never know, my friend…we are not human,” answered the wise angel. They watched as the Carpenter bent over his suffering child and drew her close. “Will He heal her?” wondered the angel. “He could, I suppose,” responded the other, “we’ll just have to wait and see.” The Lord placed his head between the man and his wife and spoke softly into her ear. Amazingly, the two angels were drawn into the scene. They listened. “I know your pain…I bore your pain…I am in your pain.” This seemed strange to the two witnesses as they knew nothing of this kind of thing. Momentarily, they saw a light glowing from within the young woman. It was shrouded in darkness, but the darkness could not contain it. Slowly, a crack appeared and a brilliant beam shone forth. Light exploded like…well… like the very life of their Lord. Gently, a song flowed from the woman’s lips and then the words “I love You, Lord” wafted out in heavenly melody.
The two angels watched as life now exploded throughout the woman’s body. The two were amazed as their Lord held her and gave his life to her. Then He whispered, “… to you it has been given to become a partaker of My divine nature…” (II Pet. 1:4-paraphrased)
Wisdom
The cross represented many things to Jesus: pain, humiliation, disgrace, mocking, loss of reputation, shame, hatred, defamation, betrayal, isolation, death and worst of all, separation from his father. What came out of that death, though? It was life, but not life of this earth. We tend to want to have that life (and we do to a certain extent) by simply making a profession of faith. But Jesus said that “he who does not bear his own cross and come after Me cannot be my disciple.” (Luke 14:27) Now these are hard words, which seem especially strange to us today. Very few of us have to bear a cross that would threaten our lives. In this day of “Christianity without loss”, the concept of carrying a cross seems foreign to us. Remember though, the things which the cross represented to Jesus. His cross reached far beyond the scope of physical pain. We tend to complain about our minor inconveniences, but every now and then, we meet someone who has experienced deep pain, which has gone on for a long time. Sometimes we meet someone whose daily survival seems to be in doubt, at least outwardly. When you encounter such a one, there can be no doubt that the experience is a segment of that which the cross brings, only in a reduced capacity.
This experience, if it is long, can be likened to the formation of precious stones in the earth. Precious gems are formed in the earth as a result of three things; time, pressure and heat. Time, constant pressure and the heat of pain or loss all help to form this divine life within us. The end result is, though you may doubt your own survival…divine life. That is, it is the release of God’s life within you, which is much more than doctrine or profession. It is a life that seems muffled by weakness when viewed from the earth. It is a life that is limitless and glorious when viewed from heaven. So bring your pain up that mountain and look down from there. You may find the view exquisite.