No More Tears

A woman stands in the cereal aisle of the grocery store and cannot move. It has been fourteen months since her husband died. Nothing warned her this was coming. It was the box on the shelf, and the way he used to eat that cereal standing up in the kitchen. Now she will have to leave her cart where it is and go.

Set that beside what John was shown. He was in exile on the island of Patmos, and the vision he was given was much bigger than comfort for losing one person. He saw a city coming down from heaven, and he heard a great voice saying, "Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men." The comfort comes after that, and it comes with a future tense attached: "And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away."

That is the difference between the aisle and the city, and it should not be smoothed over. In the grocery aisle, the former things have not passed away; they are right there on the shelf in front of her. The verse does not promise that the crying stops this year. Read plainly, it promises a day when it will stop. Until that day comes it does not stop, and John is not asking her to pretend it has. What she is given is a promise that her grief has an end. And when that day comes, God Himself will do it, as gently and personally as wiping the tears from someone's face.

So there is nothing you have to get done here. If it would help, say the name tonight, and tell God you are still waiting. That is a right thing to do, and the whole book of Revelation was written for people who were waiting. And if there is someone nearby who is further into grief than you are, you could reach out to them with a text or a meal left on the step. Nobody has to, but the invitation stands, and so does God's promise.

Daily Manna runs on a two-year cycle. The year two reading for day 118 is Not Ashamed (Romans 1:16).

All 365 readings in Daily Manna