By Hal Green
Pondering Prayer
Only God has the final word about your life. One extraordinary promise is that eventually, in God’s timing and terms, God will turn your tears into joy. This is what the peace of Jesus Christ is about: all will be more than well at the end. Psalm 126 expresses this hope:
“When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dream. Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy; then it was said among the nations, ‘The Lord has done great things for them.’ The Lord has done great things for us, and we rejoiced. Restore our fortunes, O Lord, like the watercourses in the Negeb. May those who sow in tears reap with shouts of joy. Those who go out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, carrying their sheaves” (Ps 126:1-6).
God intends to heal his people: “I have seen their ways, but I will heal them; I will lead them and repay them with comfort, creating for their mourners the fruit of the lips. Peace, peace, to the far and the near, says the LORD; and I will heal them” (Isaiah 57:18-19).
Elsewhere, God promises impending good: “For you shall go out in joy, and be led back in peace; the mountains and the hills before you shall burst into song, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands” (Isaiah 55:12).
This promise is also envisioned at the glorious end of the Bible:
“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘See, the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them as their God; they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them; he will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away.’ And the one who was seated on the throne said, ‘See, I am making all things new.’ Also he said, ‘Write this, for these words are trustworthy and true’” (Rev 21:1-5).
What if God’s healing will be greater than the wounds we suffer here? What if we will eventually praise God for the tears which made possible our joy? What if the healing salve of the Holy Spirit, once it caresses our painful brokenness, will be so wonderful that we will give thanks to God for the pain which made possible our ecstasy?
Though we will have to wait until heaven to know for certain, this is my faith, which I hold tightly, close to my heart. Risk faith; and hold these words close to your heart in prayer.
(Hal Green, Ph.D., is author of Pray This Way to Connect with God. You can contact him at drhalgreen@gmail.com.)
