A Time to Weep

Our Friday Devotion comes to us from Council Member, Ray Beeman:

History can be interesting, especially if we can learn from it. As I considered Pastor Fred’s next sermon, the one entitled "Jesus Wept", my first (lame) thought was that it was the shortest sentence in the Bible. Then I thought about the last "sentence" in the Bible, John’s exclamation point of "Amen" in Revelation:22:21. OK, that’s technically not a complete sentence, but who cares?

Anyway, to get back to point, as I thought about Jesus weeping, I thought that surely this is one of the most the most tender, empathic, emotional responses that our Lord ever expressed, and represented how much He and the Father love us all. Then I wept. And, it occurred to me to look for some other "weeping" or "wept" snapshots in the Bible. There were a couple from the books of Ezra and Nehemiah that are relevant today, so the focus here will be on the Babylonian captivity (the 70 year exile from Israel), and the role that Ezra and Nehemiah played in the return to Israel. Though there was but a remnant that chose to return (some say 5%), the story of that return was very touching; think about an 18-year old being exiled for 70 years, and returning to his homeland at age 88! He would have been old enough to have deep memories and attachments to his youth.

Here are the ones I want to mention:

Eccl 3:4 – [there is] A time to weep – and this was one of them.

Isaiah 30:19 – "… You shall no more weep" – eventually there is the hope of happiness.

Ezra 10:1 – "for the people (the remnant) wept" – when they saw the destruction/chaos.

Psalm 137:1 – "yea, we wept…" – still in Babylon, the people reflected and remembered.

Ezra returned mainly to rejuvenate the spirits of those who had returned earlier, under the leadership of Zerubbabel, and Nehemiah returned later with more people and the task of rebuilding the temple in Jerusalem. These stories are deeply touching, and are a metaphor of what can happen to a country when they forget who they are, and follow the path of selfishness and moral decay. History repeats itself with many countries that have gone through the cycle of early success and energy, growth and prosperity, and yet they all seem to eventually self-destruct after they read their press clippings and egotistically move God out of their lives (apostasy), rewrite the moral codes (J. McGee’s 2nd step to failure he titles “moral Awfulness"), and finally must endure anarchy, as their homeland is given over to the forces of evil; they have effectively set themselves up for failure.

Has America learned these lessons any better than the Jews did back then? I think not. I think that we have postured ourselves for just such a loss of freedom. I urge you to do the only thing you can do, outside of serious prayer: vote next month for the candidates who best represent what you want America to look like in the very near future. It could be our last chance to vote if we mess this up, since neither party is really equipped to tackle the deficit we have consumed and partied our way to; this is a bipartisan failure. Your kids and grand-kids will be the ones who are impacted by our choices. Please pray about your Constitutional right to vote, and take it seriously this year as you do so. We desperately need God to return to this country. Weeping is devastating.

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