Sadness is an opportunity
I need to know how to be sad ... When I started the year 2019, there was heavy sadness in my heart that I couldn't handle because of the death of my loved ones. In addition, I had tears of love in my heart when I thought about my beloved child. Then the Lord gave me the word of promise: “And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast” (1 Pet. 5:10). From then on, I held onto this word of promise and prayed to God. Although my beloved child has suffered “a little while,” I prayed to the Lord that He would restore her, make her strong, firm and steadfast. Then later I realized that God was fulfilling the word of promise He gave me not only to my child but also to me as well. So in December of 2019, even though the Lord made me to rethink about "death," my heart wasn’t heavy sorrow at all, instead I enjoyed the grace of asking the Lord for a gift of martyrdom. I prayed that I can be slain because of the word of God and the testimony I had maintained (Rev. 6:9-11).
The Christian who experiences God's grace of restoration shed tears of thanksgiving. He shed the tears of thanksgiving because of God’s grace in answering the prayers of such sinner like him by revealing God's love and faithfulness to him. Also, the Christian who experience God's grace of restoration shed tears of prayer. He shed the tears of prayer because God embraces such sinner like him from that pain and enables him to enjoy peace and rest. The Christian who experience God's grace of restoration shed tears of commitment. He sheds tears of commitment in obeying God's commands because of the covenant God's abundant love and grace that that is given faithfully to such unfaithful sinner like him.
The Bible Jeremiah 50:4-5 prophesizes that “the people of Israel and the people of Judah together will go in tears to seek the LORD their God” (v. 4) and will return to Jerusalem and will bind themselves to the Lord in an everlasting covenant that will not be forgotten (v. 5). How do those who are bind themselves to the Lord in the everlasting covenant live? He will never shed only tears of thanksgiving and tears of prayer to God's grace. He will certainly shed tears of devotion to God as well. The tears of devotion are his obedience to covenant God's command. That God's command is especially the first commandment of the Ten Commandments, “You shall have no other gods before me” (Exod. 20: 3). In other words, those who are united with God in an everlasting covenant don’t commit sins against God by disobeying God's command and worshiping idols. They will never go from one mountain to another mountain to serve idols (Jer. 50: 6, Park). And they don’t hear from unbelievers that they have sinned against the Lord, their true pasture, the Lord, the hope of their fathers (v. 7). Yet they don’t say to themselves, “We are not guilty” (v. 7). Therefore, those who are united with God in the eternal covenant enjoy the rest that God gives (v. 6). Are we enjoying the rest that God gives?
We can be grieving when we think of those who fell asleep (dead) in Jesus. But our sorrow is hopeful sorrow because we believe that Jesus died and rose again. That hope is that “we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him” (1 Thess. 4:13-14). Thus the Lord does not waste even our sorrow in Him. When we experience God’s restoring love in turning our sorrow into joy, we should shed tears and walk the way the Lord has walked. As we walk, we must walk on the path of the Lord with tears of thanksgiving, tears of prayer, and tears of devotion. We must shed tears of thanksgiving and prayer for the grace of God's restoration, and tears of devotion that obey God's commands. Since we do not sin against idolatry by obeying God's commands, we should not be told that we are Christians who sin against God through the mouth of unbelievers.
Wanting to walk on the Lord’s path as I shed tears of gratitude, tears of prayer, tears of devotion,
Pastor James Kim