The Secret of Tears

O

ne of the greatest gifts you can bring to your King is the gift of absolute sincerity. I’m talking about a purity of heart that says, “Lord, I’m coming to You because You

really are the center of my universe. You truly are all that I live for. My heart is totally and fully set upon You.” Nothing surpasses the delight of being able to sing songs of total consecration with absolute abandon.

Feelings of sincerity are quickly defused when we allow the flesh to defile our conscience. No earthly pleasure is worth a de- filed conscience. Feelings of guilt arise when we feel hypocritical before God—when we’ve spurned His overtures in order to gratify the desires of the flesh. Oh what delight when we can come boldly before His throne with a clean conscience! Even though we’re not yet perfected and even though we struggle with weakness, our hearts reach for Him with impassioned desire.

I call this “sweet sincerity.” This sincerity of heart has settled the issue once and for all: Jesus truly is the great love of my heart. This sincerity is “sweet” because when you know you’re totally sincere in coming to God, you feel the sweetness of His recipro- cating love. This is when “love [is] without hypocrisy” (Romans 12:9). I have personally found my awareness of His presence to

The Secret of Tears

be strongest when I have had great yearning of heart for Him. When my soul longs for Him in sweet sincerity, even to tears, my awareness of His reciprocating affections is heightened.

True love must function in total sincerity, void of duplicity or

adulterous passions. This is why we must find those measures that evoke our sense of sweet sincerity before the Lord. Now, here’s the beauty of it: When love is without hypocrisy, the sweetness of this sincerity is often accompanied by tears.

Of the seven psalms that refer to tears, three are attributed to David’s pen. The man who had an absolutely sincere secret life with God was a man of tears. David cried, “Do not be silent at my tears” (Psalm 39:12), as though his tears commended his sincerity to God. Clearly tears are not for women only. Another psalmist expressed the sincerity of his cry by pointing to his tears: “My tears have been my food day and night, while they continually say to me, ‘Where is your God?’” (Psalm 42:3).

There’s something about tears that is pure and unfeigned. I suppose it’s possible, in a technical sense, to fake tears (as actors learn to do), but let’s be honest about it: Nobody is about to fake tears while praying. When it comes to the secret place, tears are either honest or they’re absent.

So the presence of tears is a profound statement to your de- parted Bridegroom. Tears are liquid words. Tears say more than words often can. Whereas words can sometimes contain the pre- tense of plastic platitudes, tears come straight from the heart.

Have you known tears? You are blessed. Do you struggle to find tears? Then ask for them. It’s a request He will graciously fulfill.

We cry because we desire or because we’re in pain; so tears are the language of desire. We desire Him, even to tears. If we lack that desire, He will cultivate it within us by seemingly withdraw- ing from us in His mercy. It’s famine that makes us hungry; it’s drought that makes us thirsty. Deprivation produces desire.

Do not despise the pain that gave you tears. Pour out your heart to Him; God is a refuge for us! Those who “love much” still wash the Lord’s feet with their tears (see Luke 7:36-48).

Secrets of the Secret Place

Weeping and tears have always gained the Lord’s attention. David understood this when he wrote, “Put my tears into Your bottle” (Psalm 56:8). Not only does the Lord notice our tears, He actually bottles and stores them as an everlasting witness in His presence.

There are two kinds of sickness in the Bible that produce tears. The first is mentioned in Proverbs 13:12, “Hope deferred makes the heart sick.” When the hope of God’s deliverance is deferred, the heart grows sick. This heartsickness produces a groaning from the depths of the spirit and is expressed in tears. These are the tears of the brokenhearted, and they are not despised by God. Heartsickness cries, “Oh God, visit me! Come to me in Your power and fulfill your word in my life!”

The other sickness that produces tears is seen in Song Of Solomon 5:8, “I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if you find my beloved, that you tell him I am lovesick!” Lovesickness is the consequence of our Lord’s restrained self-revelation, who reveals Himself to us dimly as through a veil or a dark glass. When the heart is awakened to the beauty of the King and the eyes long to behold Him, but He reveals Himself in but a fraction of His full- ness, the saint becomes sick with love. Lovesickness cries, “Show me Your glory, Lord! I want to see You, I want to know You!”

Heartsickness is the product of unrequited power; lovesick- ness is the consequence of unrequited love. David articulated both passions when, during his years of hiding in the wilderness, he cried, “So I have looked for You in the sanctuary, to see Your power and Your glory ” (Psalm 63:2). Heartsickness weeps, “Show me Your hand!” Lovesickness weeps, “Show me Your face!”

I am told the story of a certain young man who was seeking a breakthrough in his life in a certain area, but had exhausted all he knew to do to gain spiritual breakthrough. He wrote General William Booth (founder of The Salvation Army) for advice. The General wrote back two simple words, “Try tears.”

William Booth had learned the secret. The inner chamber of prayer gains its impetus from the liquid power of tears. Do you long for a greater reality in your walk with God? Try tears.

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