Signposts: Daily Devotions

Tuesday, July 29

Jesus wept.
—John 11:35

The shortest verse in the Bible with the longest message.

We look to the sky and try to discern the presence of a God that feels invisible, unknowable, beyond the blood and guts of human experience. It's no wonder we sometimes find it hard to believe in God. We know joy and excitement that cause our hearts to dance, and grief and sorrow that cause our eyes to weep.  And we wonder why God stands aloof and beyond the rigors of earthly life.

In this one verse—a mere two words long—is the crux of Christianity. God does not stand apart from finite life. God, in Jesus, weeps with the world. The emotion that wrenches and rends a sorrowing soul is experienced by God—in a human way.

The grief that sinks the chest is not avoided by the One that created us. Because Jesus wept we can know that every emotion that surges through the sinews of our bodies is known and felt by the One who loved us into being.

O God, never let me dance alone or weep alone. Stand close to me and fill me with the reality of your presence—even in the midst of my fragile and finite human life.

The Signposts for July are written by Renée Miller and originally appeared on explorefaith.org in 2004.