JMD Devotional 135 John 11:32-37 Private Pain
John 11:32-37 When Mary came to the place where Jesus was and saw Him, she dropped down at His feet, saying to Him, Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.
When Jesus saw her sobbing, and the Jews who came with her [also] sobbing, He was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. [He chafed in spirit and sighed and was disturbed.] And He said, Where have you laid him? They said to Him, Lord, come and see. Jesus wept. The Jews said, See how [tenderly] He loved him! But some of them said, Could not He Who opened a blind man's eyes have prevented this man from dying?
Scholars have many conflicting ideas concerning the interpretation of the shortest verse in the Bible, "Jesus wept." (Every Baptist kid knows John 11:35 because somewhere along the line we were forced to memorize verses, but were allowed to pick and we are inherently lazy creatures.) Some scholars say it was Jesus' humanity expressing itself. Others say He wept not for Mary but for poor Lazarus, who was in a far-far better place than planet Earth! He had to bring him back to a virtual hell with which we are accustomed!
Proverbs 14:10,13 The heart knows its own bitterness, and no stranger shares its joy.
Even in laughter the heart is sorrowful, and the end of mirth is heaviness and grief.
The reality is that God gave us some privacy, and that privacy is bound up in our pain. The most nonsensical thing you can say to another person is that "I understand" or "I feel" your pain. Only God shares the naked reality of what each individual feels. That heaviness and grief that follows laughter comes from the inner recognition that we are banished from Eden; that this world is a constant reminder that life is not as it should be, and we were meant for better but blew it.
Dear God,
There are times I feel like the mountains I set my hopes on are melting like wax. Like Martin Luther, I get so frustrated with my fellow Christians that I want to shake this planet into pieces. I have have often been angry with You; but I acknowledge my ignorance; my anger misplaced. It is hard to be a prisoner of my own thoughts, having insights that can never be adequately shared, to only communicate in part, to commune superficially. Let me rest under your wing closest to your heart beat; may I not have to explain anything knowing You know my pain. You know my pain. You know my pain. Oh Jesus...
Amen
All (but*) quotes are from The Amplified Bible, published by
the Lockman Foundation. (AMP)
Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation
*New International Version (NIV)
Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society
**Scripture taken from The Message. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group. (Eugene Peterson's easy-to-read, contemporary Scripture translation)
If you know of someone who would like to subscribe to
my daily devotional, please forward.
jamesdinsmore_32907@yahoo.com
Short, concise, thought-provoking.
More features:
http://saintjamespoetry.blogspot.com/
http://recoverydevotional.blogspot.com/
http://jamesezadventures.blogspot.com/
When Jesus saw her sobbing, and the Jews who came with her [also] sobbing, He was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. [He chafed in spirit and sighed and was disturbed.] And He said, Where have you laid him? They said to Him, Lord, come and see. Jesus wept. The Jews said, See how [tenderly] He loved him! But some of them said, Could not He Who opened a blind man's eyes have prevented this man from dying?
Scholars have many conflicting ideas concerning the interpretation of the shortest verse in the Bible, "Jesus wept." (Every Baptist kid knows John 11:35 because somewhere along the line we were forced to memorize verses, but were allowed to pick and we are inherently lazy creatures.) Some scholars say it was Jesus' humanity expressing itself. Others say He wept not for Mary but for poor Lazarus, who was in a far-far better place than planet Earth! He had to bring him back to a virtual hell with which we are accustomed!
Proverbs 14:10,13 The heart knows its own bitterness, and no stranger shares its joy.
Even in laughter the heart is sorrowful, and the end of mirth is heaviness and grief.
The reality is that God gave us some privacy, and that privacy is bound up in our pain. The most nonsensical thing you can say to another person is that "I understand" or "I feel" your pain. Only God shares the naked reality of what each individual feels. That heaviness and grief that follows laughter comes from the inner recognition that we are banished from Eden; that this world is a constant reminder that life is not as it should be, and we were meant for better but blew it.
Dear God,
There are times I feel like the mountains I set my hopes on are melting like wax. Like Martin Luther, I get so frustrated with my fellow Christians that I want to shake this planet into pieces. I have have often been angry with You; but I acknowledge my ignorance; my anger misplaced. It is hard to be a prisoner of my own thoughts, having insights that can never be adequately shared, to only communicate in part, to commune superficially. Let me rest under your wing closest to your heart beat; may I not have to explain anything knowing You know my pain. You know my pain. You know my pain. Oh Jesus...
Amen
All (but*) quotes are from The Amplified Bible, published by
the Lockman Foundation. (AMP)
Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation
*New International Version (NIV)
Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society
**Scripture taken from The Message. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group. (Eugene Peterson's easy-to-read, contemporary Scripture translation)
If you know of someone who would like to subscribe to
my daily devotional, please forward.
jamesdinsmore_32907@yahoo.com
Short, concise, thought-provoking.
More features:
http://saintjamespoetry.blogspot.com/
http://recoverydevotional.blogspot.com/
http://jamesezadventures.blogspot.com/
posted by James M. Dinsmore at 4:29 AM
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