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A Time to Cry

DSC01121One of the riddles of the kingdom of God is found in Jesus’ words, “Cry now, laugh later”; Laugh now, cry later” (Luke 6:21; Luke 6:25).

It was not a new thought. For centuries his people had been singing songs and hearing prophets talk about being deeply troubled by the silence of God before seeing their days of mourning followed by seasons of dancing (Psalm 30:7-11).

Out of context, such a declaration could sound inconsiderate and heartless.  But with the promise of comfort—and against the backdrop of the long awaited kingdom of God— these words followed gently on the heels of blessed are those who i.e., in the presence of Jesus, don’t trust their own judgment or consider themselves more important than others (Matt 5:3).

Some who hear these words today may be able to identify with them if we have already seen God’s ability to turn our deep personal loss into a harvest of his comfort and presence. But if our present losses are without precedent in our own experience, then we may not have any choice but to either reject what Jesus is saying or take his riddle by faith in our desire (i.e) to trust his foresight more than our own.

We can be just as sure that our Teacher was not putting a higher value on tears than laughter. Nor was he merely saying what everyone knows—that there is a time to mourn and a time to dance. What he was saying  doesn’t come naturally, nor easily, to our days and ways….


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13 Responses to “A Time to Cry”

  1. SFDBWV says:

    What it seems here is that we are trying to confound the obvious as well as trivialize the momentous.

    All things *will* balance out. Do you suffer now? Your will no longer suffer, do you have compassion for others suffering? You will be shown compassion. Do you weep? You will laugh.

    The broken condition of your life of this world will be healed and all things made right.

    Are you poor? You will be rich (in important things that matter).

    I have never been confused by these words of Jesus and don’t see them as a riddle, puzzle or as confusing…for me they are as clear as *mud*, you just have to use another sense in order to *see*.

    Steve

  2. remarutho says:

    Good Morning BTA Friends –

    It seems to me, Mart, you are sounding the more ancient chord that appears in Luke 6. The Beatitude Manifesto rings true from Matt 5:4, 12 to Luke 6:21, 25. Perhaps the form Jesus uses in Luke’s Gospel echoes the original blessings and woes in Deuteronomy 28:1-2, 15 more recognizably than in Matthew 5 because of its contradictions (blessings and cursings).

    Surely Jesus’ words are not a cruel riddle, but instead are a call or challenge to trust his judgment of the ways of this fallen world compared to the ways of God’s uninterrupted kingdom. The ways of God are perceived by faith, not sight. We are comforted in God’s presence here because of the promise that everything high will later become low – and everything low will later be raised up.

    Jesus looked the awesome temple in Jerusalem and saw it as a pile of rubble. (Mark 13:2) He looked at the helpless children and saw them as heirs of all that God has to give. (Luke 18:16)

    Maru

  3. Artle says:

    Same as John 12:25

  4. oneg2dblu says:

    Artle, so little words, so much wisdom.

  5. poohpity says:

    I think we are all born with this desire that hungers and thirsts within us for God. Moses wrote in Exodus 33:13 his desire was for God to learn all that he could learn, so that he could know Him. David also had that desire as he wrote Psalm 42:1-2 that deep longing that often times through that intimate relationship turned sorrow into joy just from knowing his God and understanding what we are given to understand.

    Paul asked the same thing that Moses and David did in Acts 9:5, “Who are you Lord” that time of the three years alone with God so He could teach Paul who He was to develop that intimate relationship. Paul laughed before and now was brought to his knees to mourn all that he had done to those followers of Jesus and in his life. Then that mourning turned into laughter as Paul experienced every persecution imaginable yet now knew the One who could turn those sorrows to joy.

  6. belleu says:

    Words from Jesus that you quoted, Mart, are a riddle to my sister. She has a logical mind, and even sees words people speak as pictures in her mind.She was an airplane mechanic in the Marines.

    She says the things Jesus said seem like: up is down, north is south and left is right. She can’t wrap her mind around them. So, I think for some people these words are puzzling.

    For some reason, I grew up thinking life wouldn’t be too hard. It seems to me that when you are young you have this crazy optimism. It’s crazy because it is unrealistic and you learn over the years life is hard and then harder until you are no longer the person you were. I guess spiritually this is good for you – but awful to go through. I do think that is part of what Jesus meant – life is painful here but he will make it up to us in heaven.

    This morning, I woke up feeling happy. Yesterday, I was sad because my daughter’s car broke down and she had the flu and not enough money for the car to be fixed so she had to borrow it. She was sad, so I was sad. I prayed God would help me not to dwell on sad things etc. He always helps me.

    But beyond all that, we do have to “trust God’s foresight more than our own.” Like when a child in our family dies – we need to believe God knows what he is doing. We wouldn’t have let that happen, but then, we are not God.

  7. poohpity says:

    I think at times it does seem like that what we have held so dear the Lord turns it around and upside down as we learn His ways which are above anything we can understand except we can trust them as a little child into God’s hands(Matt 18:3 NIV). We were never promised a life free from trials, suffering or sorrows but we are promised someone to go through them with us and will always be faithful in His love for us.

  8. poohpity says:

    A little child does not seem to want to know the reason just that they depend on someone bigger than they are to take care of it and make it all work out.

  9. oneg2dblu says:

    There are some words of truth in the song that rings in my ears right now…
    “Trust and Obey for there’s no other way
    to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.”

    That is something that every parent/child relationship could also find as being very fulfilling and benefitial.

    Blind trust and faithful obedience seem to be the way.

  10. BruceC says:

    I mourn for my own sins; and for what I see happening in this depraved world. And I hunger for things to be right. Those who are full now are those who think they have everything and do not need or want God. In the end they will “hunger”. For those that seek the Lord they will be fed, their tears wiped away, and all things made right for all time. May the Lord help all of us to live with the joy of knowing and believing His promises with a truly grateful heart.

    BruceC
    Soli Deo Gloria!

  11. poohpity says:

    “Some who hear these words today may be able to identify with them if we have already seen God’s ability to turn our deep personal loss into a harvest of his comfort and presence.” I think we have seen that over and over not only in scripture but in the lives of many who intimately know their God. Their views of circumstances stand in stark contrast to those who have yet to trust that God is in control with our best interest in mind no matter what it may look like from our vantage point. They seem to trust God’s heart while maybe not being able to see His hand. Knowing that God’s view point is so much better than ours.

  12. remarutho says:

    Good Evening All —

    Mart, you wrote:

    “Some who hear these words today may be able to identify with them if we have already seen God’s ability to turn our deep personal loss into a harvest of his comfort and presence.”

    The psalmist David has seen the worst — dishonor and relentless attacks from enemies; yet he has known the protection of God and the healing of his wounds. He sings to the Lord:

    You have turned my mourning into dancing;

    you have loosed my sackcloth

    and clothed me with gladness,

    so my soul may praise you and not be silent…
    (Psalm 30:11-12)

    It seems to me there comes a point in the faith walk when we cannot trust old, tired ways of looking at what happens, both adversity or loss in worldly terms. Losses will be shown to be gains in God’s kingdom! Reason alone fails to yield any truth in these things. Only faith makes sense of this.

    Maru

  13. remarutho says:

    “,,,both adversity and loss” I meant to say. Maru

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