Why Do You Weep?

God knows perfectly all motives and intentions of people.  We are called, as followers of Jesus Christ, to examine carefully ourselves with the probing sharpness of God's Word.  A splinter of wood covered by a callous of skin can be uncovered and removed only with a sharp instrument, and the sin which festers in our hearts is revealed by the sterilised scalpel of scripture in the hand of the Holy Spirit.  Our actions are more easily observed and judged than our motives.  Because it is outwardly visible our aim can be mistakenly on modifying our behaviour rather than dealing with the underlying sinful motive hidden within.  Man's tendency is to focus on relieving symptoms and with little thought of the root source.

Nothing is hid from God's sight, even when it is our motive in grief.  Tears do not fall from our eyes without a reason.  David recognised God's careful observance and divine documentation of his troubles and tears.  He wrote in Psalm 56:8, "You number my wanderings; put my tears into Your bottle; are they not in Your book?"  While this verse can be used to offer consolation to those who mourn and weep (and there is real comfort here), it is important we recognise not all tears are equal in God's sight.  There are tears flavoured with love and compassion for others, tears of repentance which mourn our sin before a holy God.  These tears are accepted by God.  But there are tears of self-pity, pride, hatred, and bitterness without the motive of love which are detestable and abominable, evidence of a heart opposed to God which only add to our guilt.

This fact is proved by Esau, a man who despised his birthright and was denied his blessing.  His only thoughts were for himself, his loss, and nursed a murderous grudge toward Jacob his brother (Genesis 27:38-41).  Further insight into Esau's weeping is seen in Hebrews 12:14-17:  "Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord: ¹⁵ looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled; ¹⁶ lest there be any fornicator or profane person like Esau, who for one morsel of food sold his birthright. ¹⁷ For you know that afterward, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought it diligently with tears."  Esau wept much, but he did not weep tears of repentance.  He was sorrowful, but it was a work of the flesh.  His tears were the result of a sinful heart, and he was rejected - despite his show of contrition.  God knew his heart, and He knows our hearts too.

Consider the connection between God-honouring motives borne of faith and those of the flesh mentioned in Jeremy Taylor's classic book The Rules and Exercises of Holy Living:

Hezekiah repeated his good deeds upon his sick-bed, and obtained favour of God; but the Pharisee was accounted insolent for doing the same thing:  because this man did it to upbraid his brother, the other to obtain a mercy of God.  Zacharias questioned with the angel about his message, and was made speechless for his incredulity; but the blessed Virgin Mary questioned too, and was blameless:  for she did it to inquire after the manner of the thing, but he did not believe the thing itself:  he doubted of God's power, or the truth of the messenger; but she only of her own incapacity.  This was it which distinguished the mourning of David from the exclamation of Saul; the confession of Pharaoh from that of Manasses; the tears of Peter from the repentance of Judas:  for the praise is not in the deed done, but in the manner of its doing.  If a man visits his sick friend, and watches at his pillow for charity's sake, and because of his old affection, we approve it; but if he does it in hope of a legacy, he is a vulture, and only watches for the carcass.  The same things are honest and dishonest:  the manner of doing them and the end of the design makes the separation.

Holy intention is to the actions of a man that which the soul is to the body, or form to its matter, or the root to the tree, or the sun to the world, or the fountain to a river, or the base to a pillar:  for without these the body is a dead trunk, the matter is sluggish, the tree is a block, the world is darkness, the river is quickly dry, the pillar rushes into flatness and ruin; and the action is sinful, or unprofitable and vain. (Taylor, Jeremy. The Rules and Exercises of Holy Living. New York: E.P. Dutton. Print. pages 12-13)

Take care to examine your heart as well as your tears:  why do you weep?  Do your tears spring from a pure source, as when Christ wept over the city of Jerusalem, longing to gather the beloved of His soul?  These tears were evidence of great love.  Or is your spring of tears polluted with selfishness and spite as with Esau?  Only the LORD can give a man a new heart and purify our motives from within.  Invite the searching gaze of the Holy Spirit to examine your feelings and tears, for He is a faithful and true discerner of hearts.  Psalm 139:23-24 says, "Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my anxieties; ²⁴ and see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting."