Growing up, some parents have scolded their young boys with the false counsel, “Boys don’t cry, girls do”. This is especially true of the “Macho” type men who see crying as a weakness. Is that true? What about the creator of our world? Did He cry privately and openly?
As our picture shows, His word says our Lord has faithfully kept all our tears in a bottle. But why? Let us look into this matter and see more about this expression of both joy and sadness.
“You keep track of all my sorrows.You have collected all my tears in your bottle; Are they not in your book?(Psalms 56:8)
Let us look at David, the courageous king who, as we know, did not back down even from powerful lions. In Psalms he writes of his trials , joys and disappointments. Yet we know he showed us that he cried by the writing of Psalms 56:8. Then he lets us know that God has kept track of our crying, the tears are numbered in His book. Wow, our God is one of details and minute observations! Our hairs are numbered and our tears as well!
Let’s face it, we men basically do not like to show our emotions as much as the women do. It’s just not “manly” we think. This is true to a certain extent. As men we are often looked at as the role model for leadership and strength. David certainly was all this and more. His great leadership and courage impressed our Lord. The Lord said of him, “..I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after mine own heart, which shall fulfill all my will” (Acts 13:22).
Yet David had compassion as we saw from his treatment of Saul, and Jonathan’s son, Mephibosheth . Compassion can sometimes show itself in tears. Emotions can get so deep and welled up within that crying comes out, and we “let it out”. Psychologists have long known that suppression of our emotions can have serious consequences to our outlook on life and our behavior.
Our Lord said, “Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven”(Matt. 18:3).
Crying comes natural to children. They have not developed their “ego” as such and do not care how they look when they feel the need to cry. Our Lord proved that crying was important when the right time calls for it.
“Where have ye laid him? They said unto him, Lord, come and see. Jesus wept. Then said the Jews, Behold how he loved him!(John 11:34-36)
So we see that the “Man above all men” cried, and that openly! This alone shows that real men, tough men can and do cry.
Allow me to tell of my own personal story. For many years, prior to my conversion in early 2009, I had never cried much. Just didn’t have it in me much. Sure, once in a great while I would tear up watching a movie or such , but generally crying was not for me.
After I came back to the Lord, after being away from Him for decades, I noticed a change in my feelings. This was soon to show itself in an unmistakable way.
To review briefly, I became a Sabbath keeper (obeyer of ALL the Commandments as best I could) after deciding to read the WHOLE Bible from front to back. We as “Christians” are often told that the New Testament was basically all we needed, and that the OT was just history and part of the “old covenant” and no longer had meaning for us like the NT. Yet the OT has tremendous applicable lessons for us today!
After obeying my first Sabbath, I received a sign from the Lord (lights went off and on three times by themselves in my dining room) and from then on have kept His Sabbaths. I joined the local SDA church and was happy to be a part of “God’s people”.
My view was just like the masses– you come to church regularly and live as best you can and you’re good to go. I did not know that the Lord had any ‘final ” message of supreme importance to us. This was about to change.
But I was not content to stay in one place spiritually, I kept searching and studying for greater light. My walk was developing and He was becoming more clear to me. Slowly however I started to notice that we as SDA were not “doing” as much as “talking” about our born again experience. In other words we needed to “walk the walk” if we “talked the talk”. We did a post of this title, see here — https://godsloveandlaw.com/2011/07/09/if-we-talk-the-talk-we-must-walk-the-walk/
Fast forward to a couple of years after I had joined the church. One day I was driving through a town close to our town and noticed that the local SDA church has several other buildings on their property. I knew that these buildings were part of the SDA property. For some reason (the Holy Spirit no doubt) I noticed a chiropractic office in those buildings. It had its phone number on the outside of the door. I swing back around and took down that number.
Keep in mind that up to this point in my church relations, I assumed that we were truly God’s people. Yes we had some areas to work on but overall I truly felt the Lord was lovingly beholding us as His apple of His eye.
So I wanted to know and confirm that we as SDA were practicing what we preached. The 4th Commandment specifically tells us that “within our gates” we are not to work, or ANYONE is to work–on the Sabbath.
I called the number then and a man picked up the line. I inquired whether they were open on Saturday. He responded, “Yes we are, would you like to make an appointment?” I said, “not now but thanks” and hung up. Within a few seconds my whole being and I do mean WHOLE being was overwhelmed. I basically broke down right there in the truck.
All these thoughts and emotions came pouring out. I felt what I know the Lord feels -WE ARE HYPOCRITES! How could we preach and teach about the Sabbath and yet show the world what hypocrites we were!
“Hypocrisy is peculiarly offensive to God.” (TDG, p.55)
Anyway, my crying was not missed by the Lord. Just about two weeks after this my life changed. I was on the computer after Sabbath and happened to notice a link about the 144,000. Little did I know the Holy Spirit of Truth was guiding me (John 16:13). I listened spell-bound as the real Truth was shown about our church and where it was going! An onslaught of “meat in due season” flooded my soul.
One of those game changing Truths I heard that day was this–
“Mark this point with care: Those who receive the pure mark of truth, wrought in them by the power of the Holy Ghost, represented by a mark by the man in linen, are those “that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done” in the church. Their love for purity and the honor and glory of God is such, and they have so clear a view of the exceeding sinfulness of sin, that they are represented as being in agony, even sighing and crying. Read the ninth chapter of Ezekiel.” (Testimonies, vol. 3, p.267)
I had met my waterloo, my life’s turning point. Brother Rob was now ready to be truly–reborn. His old self was to die that day. I was soon to understand the power of His word, the application of His final pleading message as brought by His messenger, His FINAL messenger to our church.
The message tells us more about sighing and crying–
“..as the sealing message makes its way through the church, only those who awake and reform (sigh) and endeavor to share with others (cry) the light that is shining upon them, receive the seal. They are then accounted sinless through the perfection of Christ imparted in their behalf until they are given the “new heart” promised in Ezekiel 36:26, after which they will be forever sinless– forever without cause to repent.” (Answerer, vol. 2, Q-22)
So we see that not only is the sins done in the church and our own life to effect us personally, but that we are to cry aloud (share) the message of the hour, the sealing message specifically for us. Our own reforms are clear evidence that the Lord’s intended “spirit and power” is in His Elijah message (TM, p.475).
While we know that crying today is something we do and has its place, the future will have no such practice–
“And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.”(Rev. 21;4)
In closing, right now the Lord is asking for validation from each of His remnant church members. This validation shows clear unmistakable signs that we are both sealed and obedient, that we truly love Him and hate sin. When the church purification comes, those who are “sighing and crying” will be spared and head for the pre-millennial kingdom. Let us be a part of this!
“And the LORD said unto him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof.” (Ezek.9:4)
Godsloveandlaw's Blog 
Leave a Reply