18 Schubert - Impromptu In G Flat Major D899, No. 3

Tears that reflect God’s heart Then the voice that I had heard from heaven spoke to me again, saying, “Go, take the small scroll that lies open in the hand of the angel standing on the sea and on the land.” And I went to the angel and said, “Give me the small scroll.” “Take it and eat it,” he said. “It will make your stomach bitter, but in your mouth it will be as sweet as honey.” So I took the small scroll from the angel’s hand and ate it; and it was as sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it, my stomach turned bitter. Rev. 10:8-10, cf Ezek. 3:1-3) To hear from God and to know that we are in communication with the Almighty is profoundly uplifting – but when we see things that are deeply painful and disturbing how can it be anything but gut-wrenching? I have been in tears today for the plight of Afghan women as a result of the Taliban forbidding them to go to work, curtailing the much greater freedom they had known and enjoyed for a period of time. And for Ukrainians in the bitter cold as Russia tries to bomb and freeze them into surrender – while so many around the world are weeping for the brutal massacres in Iran. In tears, too, for the wellbeing of the planet after watching the Environmental Protection Agency slashing important protective measures at a stroke, in the single largest deregulatory action in U.S. history. And this at a time when transportation is already the main source of pollution in America, and when everything from devastating floods and melting ice caps to scorching heat waves are relentlessly increasing. Sentiment and personal belief cannot fail to enter the equation here, but at a deeper spiritual level He hears our concern as we pour out our hearts to Him. These are all very heavy-duty matters. Praise God for 'little' joys and pleasures that mean a lot that go some small but genuine way to compensate, and that are so important for our wellbeing. When someone has been spiritually very ‘dry’ or in a state of high tension for an extended period of time, it is only to be expected that the relief should express itself in the form of many tears – like longed-for rains finally falling on soil that is chapped and parched. Spurgeon called tears ‘liquid prayer,’ and Jewish rabbis considered them the highest form of prayer of all. I felt the Lord speaking to me once about this gift of tears: Let them flow, my child, – your tears are stored and treasured in My sight. It was I who first provided these tear ducts to release those things the heart can find no other way to express. And when each storm and outpouring is past, some echo of them will live on to water and to prepare the soil to bear yet still richer fruit. I thought this impromptu by Schubert, that Sam Booth plays here for us, might help us to weep and pray as the Spirit leads.