Weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning. —Psalm 30:5
God knows how much we can bear, and even when He chastens in the sense of punishment, He knows how much each of us can take.
It is possible that right now you are going through something awful—a nightmare. Perhaps your nightmare is because you are obedient, and it is God's way of making you more like Jesus. "For it is commendable if a man bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because he is conscious of God" (1 Pet. 2:19). But the nightmare will end.
When the nightmare is over, it could mean a restoration of honor. In Psalm 126:4 the psalmist said, "Restore our fortunes, O Lord." It could be that your good name is under a cloud. Maybe you have done something that has caused people to raise their eyebrows, or perhaps you have been falsely accused and you long to have your name cleared.
It could be a restoration of holiness. Are you a backslider? Have you been living in sin and just doing anything that your body feels like? It is not worth it.
It could be a restoration of humility: "Those who sow in tears, will reap with songs of joy" (Ps. 126:5). Perhaps you have become proud and unmanageable, and God has had to humble you.
Tears get God's attention. Hannah wept because she was barren. God gave her Samuel. The church whose womb has been strategically closed by God may find the answer in sowing in tears, that God could say, "Sing, O barren woman, you who never bore a child. ... For a brief moment I abandoned you, but with deep compassion I will bring you back" (Isa. 54:1-7).
Do you want to know the way back? It is the way of tears, sorrow that is true repentance. When you are sorry, the way to end the nightmare is to weep. God sees tears.
Excerpted from Higher Ground (Christian Focus Publications Ltd., 1995).
