The simultaneous sound of laughter and crying.
Living in the real world of constant suffering and pleasure (sometimes)
- How can you smile when there are so many people crying?Or how can you cry when there are so many people screaming with joy?Real life pushes us back and forth at the same time.
- The encounter helps with the way the Bible describes this experience.
In the book of Ezra, the people of Israel returned to Jerusalem after being exiled to Babylon, to rebuild the temple of God. After seventy years of captivity, Jeremiah’s prophecy has been fulfilled and people have been able to return home. working in the temple. According to Ezra 3:10-11, “When did the builders lay the foundations of the Lord’s temple?Did the whole town rejoice aloud and praise you for laying the foundations of your house?It makes sense. It was a day of great joy It was a new beginning.
However, the following verses (Ezra 3:12-13) say: “But many elder priests, Levites, and heads of family, who saw the first house, shouted when the foundations of this house were laid. , raised their voices with cries of joy, so that the voices of joy could not be distinguished from the voices of the cry of the people, because the people rejoiced with cries so loud that the voices were heard from afar.
Some cried, others wept with joy
Why did the elders cry? They were crying because they had seen “the first house. “In other words, what they were about to build did not correspond to the size and size of the first temple. This is what Aggé 2. 3 says: “Which one of you, who survived, sees this house in its first splendor?and how do you see her now?isn’t she like nothing to you??
Some wept because they compared the new temple to the glory of what existed before; others rejoiced that the new temple was much larger than Babylon’s captivity and that they had no temple. Both perspectives are true. Both emotions are valid, it’s the way of life. In families and churches? Both perspectives and both emotions come and go.
For example, consider health. Lose your health, maybe your eyesight, kidneys, memory or ability to walk. There is a time of “captivity in Babylon”. But after a few years, is there an answer to your prayers?A miracle or treatment sent by God? And part of your health recovers Are you jumping for joy or crying?Maybe you’ll do both. You will remember the old glory and the loss will sadden you. However, you will find that you have been relieved. A new day, a new beginning. It’s not the same, but it’s a good new beginning, full of possibilities and hopes. And you’ll be happy.
Or think about the unexpected frustrations of marriage, the pitiful decisions of children, or the sporadic setbacks and advances in your profession. Don’t you have reason to rejoice and reason to cry on any other day?Depends a lot on where you decide Are you focusing on what might have happened (for example, how good it would have been if my mother hadn’t been killed when I was twenty-eight and I would have been there to see her grandchildren grow up)?Or do you focus on the new things God has done (and will) to show the presumption of His grace (as well as another excellent wife to my father and all my children in the Lord’s way)?
On this side of Jesus’ Resurrection and the final fulfillment of the promise to reconcile all things for the good of his people (Romans 8:28-32), there will still be pains. Yes, but as Paul said, they are not like the pains of those who have no hope (1 Thessalonians 4:13). Our cry will be a cry established on the rock of hope.
My prayer, for me and for all of you, is that our tears are deep, but not long; And as long as it lasts, let us weep with those who weep; and when the joy comes in the morning, let us rejoice with those who weep. rejoice (Psalm 30. 5; Romans 12,15).
Devotion of John Piper’s book Provai e Vede
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