Why Is There Weeping?

Then the people of Israel lifted up their voice and wept. Also in our days there is weeping and crying. How often do we not see this depicted with pictures in the daily newspapers. First, it may be a child who, because of an accident, a disaster, or a bombing, has lost its parents. Then again, it may be of parents who saw their children taken away by death, sometimes in a terrible or a devastating manner. We can read of it in the obituaries provided by the sorrowing families. That is only a small inkling of all of the grief which brings people to tears. This is only the grief of which we are made aware. In the end there is much more weeping that is unknown to us.

You also probably know of sorrow and tears, for we are included in this world’s vale of tears. Perhaps our weeping is in a hidden place. Know that the Almighty One, from whom nothing is hidden, knows of and sees our difficulties. Whether we are young or old, we do not have to ask each other if we sometimes cry, but no matter how we try to hide it from our fellow man, there is One who sees all our difficulties and our grief.

Yet, there can be different reasons why we weep. The reason why the people of Israel wept is demonstrated in our text. The angel of the Lord had made manifest their disobedience against God. The results of this disobedience had brought about much of the difficulty and sorrow in their lives. In going against God’s commandment, they had united themselves to the inhabitants of the land, namely, the Canaanites. They had departed from the Lord who had so richly blessed them. He had led them through the wilderness and brought them into the promised land, flowing with milk and honey. He who departs from God should fear that trouble upon trouble will be his portion. Each one of us is guilty of such a departure from God, for we are transgressors of God’s law and disobedient unto Him. This disobedience began in the very beginning, in Paradise, in our deep fall in Adam.

Why were the sins and guilt of the people of Israel made manifest to them? The Lord wanted them to return unto Him in a way of conversion and reformation so that they would acknowledge their guilt with repentance and contrition. Just like the Angel pointed to the sin and guilt of the people of Israel, so God’s Word also points to our sin, our guilt, and our disobedience. Even today, the Lord wishes to have sinners return unto Him with repentance and true confession of sin. The results of sin are mourned because we have been disobedient to the Lord. Do we also know the root cause why this comes upon us? Do you know yourself as a transgressor of God’s law? The people of Israel called the name of that place Bochim, which means weeping. With all of the pain and sorrow that causes you to weep, do you also know of crying and weeping over your sins? Do you also know of such a Bochim in your life?

There were such sorrowing ones among the people of Israel. There were also those, however, who wept over the punishment, but when deliverance came and the punishment was removed, they forgot the Lord and continued on in their disobedience. The tears dried up when the punishment was removed.

Is that also true of you, that your tears disappear when you have been delivered out of your difficulties, such as being delivered from the danger which was facing you or being restored from a serious illness, or … Weeping over sin is already a mark of grace, for a broken and contrite heart is pleasing unto the Lord because it is His own work wherein He is glorified and a sinner is saved. God’s Word says of this, “They shall come with weeping, and with supplications will I lead them.” Do you know something of that weeping which no one but God alone can remove?

Then there is a fleeing from sin and a desire to live holily before God. That also causes a weeping because one cannot remove the sins, and with all of one’s desires and attempts at improving one’s life, sin is not and will not be reconciled. True rest can never be found in that weeping. Weeping and crying ones, there is no one upon this earth who can give you comfort. Such comfort can only be found in the cleansing and sanctifying blood of the weeping Surety and Mediator.

The people of Israel in the days of our text wept at Bochim because of the words of the Angel who had pointed out their departing and forsaking of the Lord. The impression among the people of Israel was great. What is your attitude when God’s Word is read or when you are under the proclamation of God’s Word, especially in His house? Are there still impressions? Where do we find a bowing under God’s Word in our hearts, in our homes, and in our country? In the weeping of the people it is pictured that God’s Word still had power. All the people gathered together to offer unto the Lord. Would we not be filled with joy if in our days our people would also turn from their sins and return unto the service of the Lord?

There in Bochim it was only for a time, as is related to us in the continuance of the history. It was frequently noted in such universal conversions in the history of the people of Israel, and in the history of the church, that it was only a repentance of a passing nature. Widespread weeping is not a sign of a true conversion. Remember, also, that there is no true conversion without tears. However, in spite of the general declension from God and His service, according to His Word, the Lord has a remnant elected by grace.

Also in the time of the Judges there were those who knew of true weeping over sin and looked for forgiveness of their sin and guilt. They knew that their tears, their prayers, and their works could not reconcile their sins. This was preached in the Old Dispensation by means of the offerings which pointed to the promised sacrifice of Christ in the shedding of His precious blood. Only that blood cleanses from all sin. The purifying and sanctifying power of that Lamb which was offered is sufficient for all times to save unholy transgressors of God’s law and for those who break His Covenant. Have you already experienced something of this in your life? p

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