the Fourth Week after Easter
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Daily Devotionals
John Gossner's Treasury
By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion. We hanged our harps upon the willows. How shall we sing the Lord’s song in a strange land? Psalms 137:1-4. Weep not. Weep not; she is not dead, but sleepeth. Luke 7:13; Luke 8:52. Ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice. John 16:20. Weep not: behold the lion hath prevailed. Revelation 5:5.
Must not the children of Israel weep when, after being torn away from their Zion, they sit by the rivers of Babylon in ’a strange land? Shall they not weep when robbed of that which was dearest to them and cast among the Babylonians? They cannot do otherwise; the Lord Himself had told them. Ye shall weep. And yet Babylon, that laughs at the chastisement of God’s children, had greater cause to weep. The children of God must weep when they are oppressed and driven by Babylon. But they are not comfortless, nor despondent, nor hopeless. It is their lot to weep because of the present time; but they also rejoice in the future and its promises. For ’’the redeemed of the Lord shall return: and everlasting joy shall be upon their head: they shall obtain gladness and joy" (Isaiah 51:11). Shall not a widow weep, when she has lost her only child? a teacher, when he has lost his pupil? a congregation, when it has lost its pastor and become like a widow and as one fatherless? "Weep not," says the Lord who is "the God of salvation" and to whom "belong the issues from death" (Psalms 68:20). Must we not weep when we look into the dark future unable to see anything, when no one can open the book of the secret counsels of God and to read it? Must we not weep when black night, severe afflictions, threaten us on all sides and a ray of help and comfort is nowhere to be seen? No. "Weep not," says the voice; "the Lion of the tribe of God hath prevailed. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world" (John 16:33). We all must weep: yet the Christian weeps other tears in his sorrow than the world in its woe. The former’s tears are mixed with comfort and hope and are easily and soon dried.
Joy of the desolate, light of the straying,
Hope of the penitent, fadeless and pure,
Here speaks the Comforter, tenderly saying,
"Earth has no sorrow that heaven can not cure. "
