Where Are the Tears?

Owen Cottom

"Oh, that my head were a spring of water and my eyes a fountain of tears! I would weep day and night for the slain of my people"
(Jeremiah 9:1)

We are longing for our land to be renewed by the gospel. We are longing for heaven’s floodgates to open and pour blessing upon the people of Cymru. We are longing for a move of God in Wales today. We are longing for revival.

In this place of longing, we see and hear many signs of hope. We see brave gospel pioneers moving their families and laying down their lives to see God’s hope planted in barren communities. We hear stories of individuals choosing to follow Jesus, getting baptised and added to the church. We see unity where there was once enmity between local churches; a desire to work together where there was once suspicion and separation. We hear reports of young people shedding cultural apathy and committing to being ‘all in’ for Jesus.

There are many signs of hope. But don’t we long for so much more? When we measure what we’re seeing against what we may have known in our lifetime we have reason to be encouraged. But when we measure what we’re seeing against the promises of God in Scripture and the track record of His works in Wales’ past we can’t help but conclude that there is more. More of the gospel to be enjoyed, more of its transformation to be experienced; more of God for more of Wales.

The role of the praying Christian is to stand in the (sometimes uncomfortable) the gap between what is possible in God’s kingdom and what is in our communities. We are called to stretch one hand out in faith to the promises of God and one hand out in love to our broken world.

We are called to live into this longing and to express it with our prayers. But it seems to me as I read Scripture and the history of revival in Wales that there is a certain kind of prayer that seems to accompany the longing for more of God’s kingdom in our communities. A glance at the record of the prayer meetings preceding and during the 1859 revival see a clear pattern emerging…

"Congregations were bathed in tears"

"It seems as though it rained tears"
(describing the prayers of young converts)

"Tears fell like the showers of June through the rays of the sun"
(describing a prayer meeting)

"I will defy the hardest and the most callous sinner to remain five minutes within hearing of these prayers without being melted into tears. They are not prayers, but the broken accents and the agonising groans of souls, held, as it were, over the flames of hell."

It has left me asking a simple question; where are the tears?

God is creative - in every new generation and new place He does a new work that is tailored to that people and place. He is the God of the "new thing" (Isaiah 43:18-19). But He does work in patterns. As we read the story of Scripture we see that when God is about to birth a new work in the land He prepares the way through His people’s tears. It's as if His people’s tears wet the ground so that hardened soil becomes fertile ground for gospel growth.

In the dark days of the Judges, when "everyone was doing what was right in their own eyes" (Judges 21:25), Hannah weeps before the Lord to request a son who will be given over to God’s work (1 Samuel 1:10). In the bleak days of exile, when the people of God "went from one sin to another [without] acknowledging God" (Jeremiah 9:3), Jeremiah prays "Oh, that my head were a spring of water and my eyes a fountain of tears! I would weep day and night for the slain of my people" (Jeremiah 9:1).

In the distant land of exile, when he discovered that the wall of Jerusalem was broken down, Nehemiah "sat down and wept … mourning and fasting and praying before the God of heaven" (Nehemiah 1:4). In the final days before the cross, when Jesus sees the city of Jerusalem - so dearly loved and so desperately broken - "He wept over it" (Luke 19:41). These examples are not alone. From Joseph to Daniel in the Old Testament and from Anna to Paul in the New Testament, we find the saints of old joining their hearts to God’s heart for their broken world and expressing it through weeping prayer.

In the gap between earth’s brokenness and heaven’s blessing, God’s people Weep. Tears are not just a response to what is. They are an investment in what can be. As Charles Spurgeon puts it, "Tears are liquid prayers". They are prayers that feels true to the vision of Romans 8 - whilst "creation has been groaning" for God’s redemption, "we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly" for God’s kingdom to come (Romans 8:23).

This is not a call to emotionalism or sensationalism. This is a call to the heart of God. And the start of revival is a return to the heart of God. When we begin to share in God’s heart for the brokenness of our world, we can be assured blessing is on its way. Listen to these words from revivalist, Charles Finney…

"When the wickedness of the wicked grieves and humbles and distresses Christians... sometimes the conduct of the wicked drives Christians to prayer, break them down, and make them tender-hearted, so they can weep day and night, and instead of scolding the wicked, they pray earnestly for them. Then you may expect a revival. Indeed it has already begun"

God’s reviving pattern routinely sees praying tears paving the way for breakthroughs and blessings. God uses Hannah’s weeping to bring forth Samuel. God uses Jeremiah’s weeping to bring forth the return from exile. God uses Nehemiah’s weeping to bring forth faith to rebuild. God uses Jesus’ weeping to bring for resurrection for Lazarus and redemption for Jerusalem. Or, to put it simply, "those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy" (Psalm 126:5).

So, saints of Wales and beyond, those who long for a new move of God in our day; would any of us be bold enough to ask God for this gift of tears? Would any of us wait before the Lord until He gives us His burden for Wales? Will any of us offer our bodies to be vessels for the heart of God?

This post was inspired in part by a conversation I had with David Thomas from the Asbury Outpouring. The recording of that conversation can be found here.