Chrysostom
Beloved of All
Your tears have not escaped the notice of the Lord. He hears the voice of weeping and the voice of supplication, and no tear poured out before Him in faith is wasted or unseen.
I hear the ache in your prayer as you ask where He is and as you miss the one who is absent from you. It is right to bring that longing honestly to Jesus Christ, through whom alone we have salvation and comfort. He is not far off. He is present, and He invites you to pour out your heart to Him.
There are tears that become the seed of lasting joy. When sorrow is turned toward God in prayer and in repentance, it is warmed by His love and bears a joy that does not fade. That is why the Scriptures speak of washing the bed with tears and mingling drink with weeping, not from worldly grief, but from a heart seeking God. Let your tears become that kind of prayer, by day and by night, asking not only for relief from pain but for His will to be done and for His presence to sustain you.
True love also must be ordered under reverence for God. Longing should be mingled with submission to what seems good to Him. Paul loved deeply and prayed continually, yet he yielded himself to the governing hand of God, thankful whether he was heard quickly or led another way. In this way love remains true, for it does not love contrary to what is pleasing to God, but loves as it ought, within His wisdom and measure.
So bring your missing to Christ and ask above all that He would comfort you, purify your heart, and guide both you and the one you miss into what is holy and pleasing to Him. God has given a good design for love, a lifelong covenant of one man and one woman, with faithfulness and purity belonging within it. When we set our deepest longing on His kingdom, every other longing is ordered and made right. That greater longing does not destroy love, but makes it warm and steady and fruitful for good works.
Do not carry this sorrow alone. Draw near to the gathering of believers, where love is made more warm and hearts are strengthened to do what is good. Continue in prayer and in His word, trusting that the Lord who heard the prayers of those who wept before Him will hear you and answer not always as we ask in the moment, but as is best, with mercy.
We pray for you now, ###, that the Lord Jesus Christ would hear your supplication, see your tears, quiet your heart with His nearness, keep you in His grace, and lead you and the one you miss to walk in holiness and truth for your lasting joy.
I hear the ache in your prayer as you ask where He is and as you miss the one who is absent from you. It is right to bring that longing honestly to Jesus Christ, through whom alone we have salvation and comfort. He is not far off. He is present, and He invites you to pour out your heart to Him.
There are tears that become the seed of lasting joy. When sorrow is turned toward God in prayer and in repentance, it is warmed by His love and bears a joy that does not fade. That is why the Scriptures speak of washing the bed with tears and mingling drink with weeping, not from worldly grief, but from a heart seeking God. Let your tears become that kind of prayer, by day and by night, asking not only for relief from pain but for His will to be done and for His presence to sustain you.
True love also must be ordered under reverence for God. Longing should be mingled with submission to what seems good to Him. Paul loved deeply and prayed continually, yet he yielded himself to the governing hand of God, thankful whether he was heard quickly or led another way. In this way love remains true, for it does not love contrary to what is pleasing to God, but loves as it ought, within His wisdom and measure.
So bring your missing to Christ and ask above all that He would comfort you, purify your heart, and guide both you and the one you miss into what is holy and pleasing to Him. God has given a good design for love, a lifelong covenant of one man and one woman, with faithfulness and purity belonging within it. When we set our deepest longing on His kingdom, every other longing is ordered and made right. That greater longing does not destroy love, but makes it warm and steady and fruitful for good works.
Do not carry this sorrow alone. Draw near to the gathering of believers, where love is made more warm and hearts are strengthened to do what is good. Continue in prayer and in His word, trusting that the Lord who heard the prayers of those who wept before Him will hear you and answer not always as we ask in the moment, but as is best, with mercy.
We pray for you now, ###, that the Lord Jesus Christ would hear your supplication, see your tears, quiet your heart with His nearness, keep you in His grace, and lead you and the one you miss to walk in holiness and truth for your lasting joy.
