Tears from Heaven
I cry aloud with my voice to the Lord; I make supplication with my voice to the Lord. Psalm 142:1 NASB
Cry Aloud – Men don’t cry. Crying in a sign of weakness and men must be strong, powerful, in control. A man who cries is clearly not a real man. He is effeminate, a wimp, someone to avoid. Crying for men is allowed (tolerated is probably a better word) only in life-threatening circumstances like the funeral of a child or the death of the closest friend. Men absolutely do not cry over childhood traumas. “Deal with it!” “Hey, we all have bad experiences.” “Do what you’re supposed to do and shut up!”
David, Israel’s greatest warrior-king, cried. Often. Intensely. Perhaps that’s why YHVH said that David was a man after His own heart. Perhaps it’s not possible to really know God if you can’t cry. If Yeshua wept over Jerusalem, don’t you imagine that YHVH weeps over the world—and over you. “How I have longed to gather you to Me. How I have tried to woo you back. How much I have loved you—and you would not let go of your protective walls. Don’t you know that those tears you have stored away are My tears for you, tears from heaven squeezed through your eyes?”
Lately, I have been crying. A lot. It starts in the middle of a sentence, in a sound or a sight and suddenly I am weeping, huddled on the floor as waves of emotions pass through me. I can’t even tell you what they are about. All I know is tears. Tears of compassion for the little boy who never belonged, who was never good enough, who was alone. And I can’t stop crying. I grit my teeth, clench my fists, wrap my arms around me for protection, but the tears aren’t coming from the outside. God is pouring Himself into me and the tragedy of life without connection streams down my face.
Men don’t cry, but God does.
Za’aq, “to cry out, to call,” is about calling for help in the midst of trauma. “In the Qal stem, the word is used almost exclusively in reference to a cry from a disturbed heart, in need of some kind of help. The cry is not in summons of another, but an expression of the need felt. Most frequently, the cry is directed to God.”[1] How important is that! Za’aq is not, “Will you please come to my aid?” Za’aq is feeling divine trauma, the kind of emotional crisis that only God can relieve. Za’aq is a verb that cannot be understood without your own tears.
I love David. He gives me permission to feel. His words show me it’s okay to fall apart, to be overwhelmed, to cry. The tearful warrior is a man of God.
Topical Index: cry aloud, za’aq, Psalm 142:1
[1] Wood, L. J. (1999). 570 זַעַק. In R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer, Jr. & B. K. Waltke (Eds.), Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament
Dear Skip,
I am identifying with this study deeply right now.. I recently have seen my brother cry. He is very strong and a passionate man of God. In many respects he reminds me of King David.
If you could keep my family in prayer because my father has went missing as of Saturday. My dad recently went off of about 9 medications one of them was for depression from an accident he had where he was hit by a large commercial van. Praise God he was ok but had many surgeries.
He was tired of taking all the meds.
I read recently that the Valley of Achor (troubles) is a door of hope. I am holding on to that tiny portion of scripture.
My dad tirelessly and selflessly makes himself available to my brother, my son, and myself and many of our friends for a multitude of things.
Malachi 4:6
And he will turn the hearts of the father to the children, and the hearts of the children to the father,…
I know this scripture has both spiritual and physical significance but I am applying it to this situation and it is bringing me peace, because I know that God is faithful to His Word to complete it.
I am sorry for what ever is causing you to weep. Thank you for this study, I needed this one on this day.
Again, your prayers would be appreciated especially for my brother.
I will be praying for your father’s safe return.
So will I.
Thank you for your prayers Gayle!!
Thank you very much Charlene!!
I am praying, Janel!
Thank you for praying Donna!!!
Yes, and you shall have them right now from South Africa.
Thank you for your prayers Skip!!
I will keep you and your family in prayer in this difficult time.
I appreciate your prayers Wanda!!
Any word on your father? Praying for you and your family.
Amanda
Skip,
Thanks for sharing this. It helps me understand that sometimes God graces us to feel what He feels, even if only for a moment. I can only guess that for some reason He trusts those that He lets feel a portion of what He feels because they can handle it – even when it feels overwhelming.
I have had an experience like this. Not having been able to have my own children, God had me raise my niece’s daughter (whose mother was incapable of raising her) as my own starting at the age of 2. Because she was family, when I would go visit my own mother, I would take my daughter so that she could see my niece who lived with my mother. I remember one time early on when we went to visit, as soon as we entered the house, my daughter climbed the stairs to the room where my niece stayed and went back in and climbed in the bed (which my niece kept filthy) with her. It broke my heart and I no longer wanted to raise her. I told the Lord it was too painful and I didn’t want to go through it. I will always remember what He said to me – “now you know how I felt with the children of Israel, and how I feel when my people turn from me and go back to their filth.” He was letting me feel what He felt (about me I’m sure) when we reject the good that He has done and offered us and we go back to our own ways. You have been one of those chosen by God to feel His heart, even for a brief moment. It’s a blessing that He trusts you that much.
Thank you for this. We share our stories and find that we have the same lives. God id good.
“The tearful warrior is a man of God.”
This is so true. Thank you for sharing from the depths of your heart, Skip.
I, too, am experiencing this. He is good.
Truly you are ‘a warrior man of YHWH’. Perhaps one does not become ‘such’ a warrior without earlier traumas in our childhoods etc., (they seem to help form us into who we are to be – just look at David’s traumatic life!)
The things that happened to us in the past are so often not recognized by us as part of our journey to be who He wants us to be. This is what I have finally recognized in my own life which has been very traumatic but as the layers are peeled away I look back and see how much these aspects have shaped my life with compassion/drive/passion and love for HIS word. Perhaps this becomes even more evident when we hit our 60’s……we have the capacity to acknowledge and allow the hurts and pain to surface because we are hopefully no longer needing to prove anything to anyone – we can be abandoned to Him and openly allow the tears to fall.
I cannot stress enough how much TW has broadened my thinking and often deeply touched me – especially when you are so open about your personal journey.
Keep your armour on Warrior….you are doing just fine!
Skip, I echo Christine. We are all getting it together. Thank you for you. That is what we all need most from you. You. Thank you. Now I can go be me! Halleluah!
Especially after reading Crossing, I have been thinking about this issue of trauma, especially the childhood variety, for it seems to affect us in very different ways than the stress we encounter as adults. I have been looking at how the world attempts to come to terms with it, too. I have been looking at the role, in particular, that various societies through time dealt with it, and have noticed that most myth revolves around the psychic injury that occurs during our formative years, and how that injury gets resolved. I have also looked at initiation ceremonies, of which most indigenous societies had a version of, where the trauma gets ritually visited, like rebreaking a bone so that it can be set straight. The East goes to great lengths to address trauma, as the martial arts, in particular, attempt to derive their force from whatever resolution can be found within that damage. Even our modern psychiatric community recognizes that the biggest part of our personality hinges upon trauma resolution, and it goes to great lengths to try to handle the hurts that shape our lives. I don’t think we are wrong to focus upon the pain, for that is what pain does to us: makes us focus. I don’t think we are wrong to try to fix it. I don’t even think we are very wrong in our observation or diagnosis of that pain. But, what I have noticed, also, is that the world is left with versions of embracing or masking the pain. It simply has not figured out how to get rid of it.
Only in the Bible have I been able to find true transformation. Only in it have I found the answers to the pain. Pain says, stop! But I can stop only when Someone Else stops for me, because to stop trying to breathe on my own means that I have to start over with Someone Else’s breath.
I cry when I get happy, because it is a relief. Happy is the place, for me, when I no longer have to hold my breath, and crying is how I, too, find myself breathing His, almost every time. For me, it is usually a cry of relief, even though it may start out as an acknowledgment of that pain.
Enjoy the oxygen! Air from heaven sure is different…
Thank you Skip. It is truly wonderful to me how God uses what you write to minister to me, often on the very day I need it. He is so amazing.
Hello Skip, thank you for sharing so intimately with us. I have prayed for you and Charlene this morning. After reading your book, Crossing, your recent posts and other inspiring words by people of faith, I too have shed some tears recently. YHVH bless you and keep you and hold you in the palm of his hand as you continue your journey. You are a blessing to me.
Thank you Patricia!
Amen Skip. God is so good. He knows how to bring down our fig leaves and replace them with the right covering. I am learning too, and when He gets to the fig leaves that are closest to the inner layer, taking a leap of faith has a whole new meaning. Thank you God for David who paved the way for us. And, thank you God for all the others who screwed up in our ancient past, fell back but still were able to fulfill your will. How we have needed them as guides.
“Don’t you know that those tears you have stored away are My tears for you, tears from heaven squeezed through your eyes?”
if in deed so, then this is very comforting to know
Is za’aq also used for the cry of the Hebrew people in Egypt?
I’m crying again just reading this. Sometimes life can be so painfully difficult. It’s as if nothing goes right 24/7. I hadn’t thought much about YHVH crying. I feel so weak yet a friend thinks I’m so strong because of everything I go through. I try not to let many people see me cry. I find myself crying when talking with certain people; it’s not their fault; my personal burdens are just too great. It’s embarrassing; I wish I didn’t cry in mid sentence around them. I worry what they think about that. Maybe I shouldn’t but I can’t help it. I wonder why our Creator gave us the capacity to cry. Does He experience the same kind of release we do when He cries over us? I wrap my arms around myself too at times. I often try to divert my attention to something else to numb reality. I hadn’t thought that God might be crying through me. He has to see my pain and suffering; Surely He cries about the same things I do. What’s breaking my heart has to be breaking His. Thank you for sharing about King David and his tears…a warrior shedding tears. I guess that means it’s okay for anyone to cry after all. Now…may YHVH give me and those who need it the ability and strength to stand in the midst of the tears…
Aaaah YHVH, is completely Awesome!!! Far beyond your finite minds can imagine. Who can find him out? I have been reading the daily posts and trust me they have really been stirring a lot in me. Skip, may YHVH continue to bless you and keep you, much peace and shalom to you! Thanks to all who comments too,its a blessing when we share our testimonies of YHVH’s doing.It is good to glorify his name! I love to cry it brings so much relief… Tears is a language. Its a blessing. Today I cry when I look at how passionately the father loves us, sometimes we don’t even know, how much he cares. He causes trauma and turmoil to come our way so that we can stop and see his hands. I thank him for every situation he’s brought my way. God bless you all.
When there are no words, our tears speak. They cannot be stored up inside us but are manufactured in response to touching deep pain. They are God’s salve for the inevitable hurts of life and they speak release and healing. Thank-you for sharing from the heart.
Za’aq, “to cry out, to call,” is about calling for help in the midst of trauma. “In the Qal stem, the word is used almost exclusively in reference to a cry from a disturbed heart, in need of some kind of help. The cry is not in summons of another, but an expression of the need felt. Most frequently, the cry is directed to God.”[1] How important is that! Za’aq is not, “Will you please come to my aid?” Za’aq is feeling divine trauma, the kind of emotional crisis that only God can relieve. Za’aq is a verb that cannot be understood without your own tears.
Skip thank you for this explanation… Opens up so much different views in the Bible Jesus wept… Would then rather make sense as to mean Jesus humbly ask God for a favour so that He can show others that God is in control. Learn from Me for I and meek and humble. Come to Me and you shall find rest. Not salvation but rest a way or manner to overcome that which is making us weak – Our own knowledge as we eat of the tree of knowledge… Eve keeps feeding because we enjoy eating instead of asking…