Imago Scriptura 59 - Crying

So I am going to weave together Scripture, Legos, and Queensryche into one post.  Pretty impressive, I know.  Yesterday's reading from Ezra had a section that I didn't remember reading before.  The first part of Ezra is describing the return of the people back to Jerusalem and in chapter 3, the foundation is being laid to rebuild the temple.  Verses 12-13 say:

But many of the older priests and Levites and family heads, who had seen the former temple, wept aloud when they saw the foundation of this temple being laid, while many others shouted for joy. No one could distinguish the sound of the shouts of joy from the sound of weeping, because the people made so much noise. And the sound was heard far away.

The connection of weeping and shouting for joy - it reminded me of a line from one of my favorite bands back in the day, Queensryche..."Strange how laughter looks like crying with no sound." (From Another Rainy Night Without You).  It is strange how we can cry for grief and sadness and pain but also cry for joy and relief and wonder.  Yet, I know that I struggle to cry at times.  I wonder how much of that is the culture that we grow up in as men - be tough, "crying is for girls", suck it up, be a man!  Yet, there is so much in Scripture that reflects how tears are a natural part of who we are.

Last Sunday, I preached on Psalm 30 in worship and kept coming back to the line about how "weeping may last the night but joy comes in the morning."  This morning, we looked at Psalm 5 in worship and how the lament lifted up undoubtedly was filled with tears coming before the Lord as David spoke of the evildoers who had done him wrong.

I am grateful that I have learned once again to cry - times of tears of joy in worship as well as times when tears need to flow because of the pain within.  Thank you Lord for the gift of tears.