Sometimes a Guy Just Needs a Good Cry!

"Weeping may last for the night, but a shout of joy comes in the morning" (Psalm 30:5b)

We had the joy of having several of our grandchildren down for a few days this week and one of the things we enjoyed together was a trip to a fun center for children. While playing on all of that "bouncy" stuff on which adults are not allowed to go, one of my grandsons fell and got a pretty good rope burn on his bare leg. Even though his daddy comforted him and treated the burn, he still continued to cry about it. The idea for this devotional suddenly occurred to me, along with the title-thought that sometimes a guy just needs a good cry!

This past Sunday we celebrated the resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Hallelujah! But can you imagine the tears (even if they might have been fought back by those tough manly disciples) that each of them must have experienced at the thought of Jesus going to the cross? If ever there was a right and proper moment for weeping, that was it! And though we find these words recorded in the book of Psalms and not in the words of Jesus found in the Gospels, still this glorious promise surely applied to what they were feeling and experiencing. As a well-known gospel song lyric asks: "How could a night be so long?"

Their weeping did, indeed, "last for the night," beloved. Their hearts broke as they watched Him nailed to that rugged cross and bleed out His life for the sins of all mankind. The lump in each throat was large enough to choke them as they watched Mary watching her son give up His spirit for people who did not even realize that they needed a Savior. It was a long, long night and they wept all the way through it.

The psalmist's promise is simple but powerful - "but a shout of joy comes in the morning." Can you imagine what went through the minds of those women who took their spices to the tomb so early in the morning and found the stone rolled away? Can you fathom the incredulity of Peter and John as they ran to the tomb and inspected its interior, not finding any evidence of His remains in place? Can you see in your mind's eye that glorious scene when at last He Himself stood among them in that locked upper room and took the piece of fish and ate it before them? And can you still hear echoing through the corridors of history today the emotion-charged words of John and Cleopas as they looked at each other on the Emmaus road and asked, "Were not our hearts burning within us?" (Luke 24:32)?

That there were throughout the land "shouts of joy" that replaced the night of weeping is absolutely without question, beloved! And that is precisely what Jesus still loves to do in our lives today - turn weeping into joy! Oh, there will be weeping, no doubt. As long as sin is alive and Satan is the prince of this world, there will be weeping. But, beloved, I have good news for you - Sunday's coming! It may be "Friday" in your life right now, but "Sunday" is on the way. You may be weeping right now, but there is a shout of joy in your future! Hallelujah! Maranatha! Glory to the Lamb!

Ron