{"id":5525,"date":"2021-08-17T07:59:26","date_gmt":"2021-08-17T07:59:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/eotcmk.org\/e\/?p=5525"},"modified":"2021-08-17T08:02:07","modified_gmt":"2021-08-17T08:02:07","slug":"listen-to-my-tears-psalm-282","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eotcmk.org\/e\/listen-to-my-tears-psalm-282\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cListen to my tears\u201d (Psalm 28:2)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cListen to my tears\u201d <\/strong>(Psalm 28:2)<\/strong><\/p>\n

August 17, 2021<\/strong><\/p>\n

Temptations, hardships, pain, diseases and disasters sometimes bring about tears. Especially if the person feels abandoned,\u00a0 \u00a0or that it is a punishment as a result of his sins. Here, a spiritual factor enters into weeping, its reason being that the person feels that grace has departed from him, or that God has begun to deliver him to the hands of his enemies. He is then grieved and weeps.<\/p>\n

Sometimes he weeps, repenting and regretting, and sometimes he weeps whilst reproaching God.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Perhaps \u00a0this \u00a0is \u00a0what \u00a0David \u00a0did \u00a0in \u00a0his \u00a0temptations \u00a0and hardships when he said in the Psalm, \u201cWhy do You stand afar off, O LORD? Why do You hide Yourself in times of trouble?\u201d (Psalm 10:1)<\/p>\n

Th<\/strong>e Lord sometimes allows temptations, not in abandonment, but for its spiritual benefits.<\/strong><\/p>\n

For, a person at the time of humbleness finds this humbleness bringing him to the contrition of heart, meekness of spirit, an excess of tears that makes him feel his weakness, \u00a0and removes from him all the reasons and manifestations of pride.<\/p>\n

God might see that the tears of one of His sons has dried up in the pleasures of the world, <\/strong>and so He allows temptations and hardships to come to him, in order to squeeze his eyes, after it squeezes his heart.<\/p>\n

God does not even prohibit these temptations from His saints. The Psalm says, \u201cMany are the afflictions of the righteous, But the LORD delivers him out of them all\u201d (Psalm 34:19)<\/em>. <\/em>He allows these afflictions to afflict His saints. If it arrives at spiritual results, He rescues them from these afflictions.<\/p>\n

Here, I would like to differentiate between two types of temptation and two types of tears.<\/p>\n

On<\/strong>e type is worldly and the other is spiritual.<\/strong><\/p>\n

There are materialistic or worldly temptations that afflict a person through his wealth or fame or his position and so he weeps being grieved over the pleasures of the things he lost in this world. Perhaps in his weeping he grumbles and becomes discontent\u00a0 even\u00a0 towards\u00a0 God\u00a0 Himself!\u00a0 As\u00a0 if\u00a0 God\u00a0 was\u00a0 the reason for his affliction.<\/p>\n

Th<\/strong>e tears of such a person is a sin.<\/strong><\/p>\n

We will not speak about this type. His tears indicate his love of the world and of the feelings therein, which will pass away and its lust with it. (1 John 2:16, 17)<\/p>\n

The\u00a0 person\u00a0 who\u00a0 renounces\u00a0 worldly\u00a0 pleasures\u00a0 is\u00a0 not affected by these matters, but says, \u201cThe LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; Blessed be the name of the LORD\u201d (Job 1:21).<\/em><\/p>\n

Another person for example, the more temptations press him, he feels the trifleness of the world and desires a better world, this is a spiritual person.<\/p>\n

If he weeps, in fear of grace abandoning him, or that he has grieved the Lord, \u00a0and so He left him to the troubles of the world.<\/strong><\/p>\n

This person\u2019s weeping is spiritual and mingled with repentance and humbleness of heart,\u00a0\u00a0 and also mingled with confession. He says in his heart: \u201cWhat has happened to me is far less than what I deserve as a result of my sins. It is good for me to fulfill the affliction on earth just like poor Lazarus\u201d (Luke 16:25).<\/em><\/p>\n

He might say with the Psalmist, \u201cIt is good for me that I<\/strong><\/p>\n

have been afflicted, That I may learn Your statutes.\u201d\u00a0 \u00a0<\/em><\/strong>(Psalm<\/strong> 119:71)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Such tears bring comfort to the heart, because God accepts them as a smell of joy in front of Him and also accepts their spiritual motivations.<\/p>\n

Th<\/strong>e temptations might be from devilish warfares. The person\u00a0\u00a0 weeps\u00a0\u00a0 sensing\u00a0\u00a0 his\u00a0\u00a0 weakness\u00a0\u00a0 and\u00a0\u00a0 asking\u00a0\u00a0 for assistance from the Lord.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The person\u2019s feeling that he is weaker than fighting this spiritual power brings him tears, fearing that he might fall. The thoughts of the enemy might have defiled the man of God and so\u00a0 he\u00a0 weeps,\u00a0 being\u00a0 cautious\u00a0 over\u00a0 the\u00a0 purity\u00a0 of\u00a0 his\u00a0 heart, thoughts and feelings and he struggles asking for God\u2019s grace to be with him.<\/p>\n

On this spiritual war, Saint Paul the apostle sent a message rebuking the Hebrews and saying:\u201cYou have not yet resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin\u201d (Heberew 12:4).<\/em><\/p>\n

Tears is an element of struggle to bloodshed. Prophet David speaks to God saying: \u201c<\/em>Listen to my tears\u201d (Psalm 28:2) and Saint John said, do not abandon me \u201cbecause without You I can do nothing.\u201d \u00a0(John 15:5)<\/p>\n

Source: \u201cTears in Spiritual Life\u201d By H.H. Pope Shenouda III.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Temptations, hardships, pain, diseases and disasters sometimes bring about tears. Especially if the person feels abandoned,or that it is a punishment as a result of his sins. Here, a spiritual factor enters into weeping, its reason being that the person feels that grace has departed from him, or that God has begun to deliver him to the hands of his enemies. He is then grieved and weeps.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[74,70],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5525","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christian-living-and-doctrines","category-holy-scriptures"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eotcmk.org\/e\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5525"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eotcmk.org\/e\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eotcmk.org\/e\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eotcmk.org\/e\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eotcmk.org\/e\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5525"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/eotcmk.org\/e\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5525\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5527,"href":"https:\/\/eotcmk.org\/e\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5525\/revisions\/5527"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eotcmk.org\/e\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5525"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eotcmk.org\/e\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5525"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eotcmk.org\/e\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5525"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}