A Look at Weep with Me

If you know me at all, I just love music. I love country music, Christian music, and my family will tell you, John Mayer music. Haha I may show up as his number one fan in the Spotify end of year reports. You’re welcome, John. You’re welcome. :)

 Well, one day, while at church, I heard a new song and it really just hit me in a very personal way. Very personal. Songs can do that. That’s why I love music so much. And Honestly, the world is just so heavy right now. It’s been really heavy for two years now and sometimes it’s just hard to even breathe. You know. Like we are all under personal attack and tough stuff daily. It just gets so old and heavy. 

 Well, for me, music is always my go to. It lifts my heart. Lifts my spirits. Lifts my mind to better places. I hope it does for you too. If you don’t mind, I’d love to share a song that truly touched me and I only learned about this little beauty very recently. I hope it touches you too.

 First, grab a seat and focus your mind. This little beauty will touch your heart. Let’s go.

RIGHT CLICK LINK AND LISTEN HERE:

Rend Collective - Weep With Me (Audio) - YouTube

When the church group started this song, I knew the music was gorgeous and then verse 1 came. Wow! It hit me like a ton of bricks. 

Verse 1

Weep with me.

Lord, will You weep with me?

I don't need answers, all I need,

Is to know that You care for me.

Lord, will you weep with me? Did you catch that? Sometimes our hearts are so heavy and we often think that no one can relate. We often feel alone and that no one understands, but this verse tells us otherwise. It’s a cry out to the Lord to say, “Help!  Lord, will you help me?” Then, the verse says, “I don’t need your answer. I just need to know that you care for me.” What do think about that? Let’s see what the Bible tells us.

Matthew 11:28-29 says:

“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”

Did you catch that? Come to me and I will give you rest. How lovely is that thought? We don’t need to carry the weight of the world. He does indeed care for us and he will take care of us. When we weep, he cares for us. He is there. He’s always been there. He will always be there. He will be our refuge and strength. Always!

I’ve had to learn that the hard way. I’ve often thought that I can count on man, friends, spouse, etc… to be my strength. What an unfair thought and expectation. People are just people, like me, flawed and imperfect. Yes, we can lean on people, but grab the GOOD STUFF- lean on Jesus. He is strong, firm, and steadfast. And he never turns away. Even in our imperfections and childish behaviors, he leans in and says, “I see you. I hear you. I will hold you in the palm of my hand.” How beautiful is that? Not only does he weep with us on the things that make us weep, he is holding us in his palm and catching every tear. What a beautiful truth to know.

Verse 2

Hear my plea.

Are You even listening?

Lord, I will wrestle with Your heart,

But I won't let You go.

Who knows of Jacob in the Bible? Jacob is the son who steals the birthright from his brother, Esau by deceiving their father. He then flees the land and struggle, heartache, anxiety, and fear plague him for many, many years. 

 At one point, Jacob is called to return to his homeland. Now, it’s important to review here. Jacob had been promised by God that his family would become not only a great nation, but many great nations. But now, going home has him stricken with great fear. In fact, he sends a caravan ahead with gifts for his brother to bribe him. You know, make the landing soft. Right? Anyway, on his journey there, he rests beside a river and it is here that his most important life event occurs. Let’s look. 

Genesis 32:24 

“So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. 25 When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man. 26 Then the man said, “Let me go, for it is daybreak. ”But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” 27 The man asked him, “What is your name?“ “Jacob,” he answered. 28 Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel,[f] because you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome.” 29 Jacob said, “Please tell me your name.” But he replied, “Why do you ask my name?” Then he blessed him there.”

You may think, why did God bless him? Like that makes no sense. Jacob, now Israel, was a liar and a deceiver.  He doesn’t deserve a blessing. I get it. Honestly, we don’t either, but here’s why he received a blessing. Even in our imperfect selves, even in our flawed selves, God wants to bless us. He does. He has a blessing ready to bestow upon each of us and it is simply because he loves us.

If you feel like you are wrestling with God over life, love, career, thoughts, ideas, your future, many before you have done the same and he is okay with that. Many of the heroes of the Bible wrestled with God too. Take Moses. He told God he could not go back to Egypt and free God’s people. He just couldn’t. He made all kinds of excuses. He did. And yet God gave him all he needed to overcome. 

So, like Moses, or David, or Joseph, or Joshua,  put aside your fears and call out to God. He loves to hear your voice. He listens and hears. He wants you to come to him. Share your fears, your angers, your hurts, your disappointments. He himself has felt them all. Did you catch that? Because Jesus came as a man to our Earth, he fully understands all of the emotions that we feel. Every single one of them. What a glorious thing to think about, right? He fully understands how we feel.  It’s such a beautiful thing to grab on to. And it’s fully true!  

So wrestle with God and cry out to him with whatever your heart is aching over. He wants you to bring it to him. And he won’t let you Go. And in his time, he will bring forward a blessing for you. He truly will and you will be fully protected under his wing in the meantime.

[Pre-Chorus]

You know I believe.

Help my unbelief.

I don’t know about you, but this little pre-chorus hits me so hard. I truly believe that God has the best for me at all times. Yet the world hits and sometimes it hits hard. Very hard! At times in my life, life has hit me so hard that I could barely get out of bed. I know you can relate, but what I discovered is that God was there. I could feel him reminding me of who he is. Reminding me that in my unbelief, he is still there pointing me to the things that prove God to be true, and good, and kind. A song. A sunrise. A touch from another. All reminders of who God is and that he loves us. Remember, he is not afraid of our unbelief. Like the man in the Bible who stated this same thing, we too can ask God to help us when we struggle with faith. And our loving father will do just that.

Now, onto the chorus. Isn’t music just so good? Ahhh …  Off we go!

[Chorus]

Yet I will praise You,

Yet I will sing of Your name.

Here in the shadows,

Here I will offer my praise.

What's true in the light,

Is still true in the dark.

You're good and You're kind.

And You care for this heart.

Lord, I believe,

You weep with me.

I love this chorus!!!. So many nuggets in there to pick up and examine. But, can I be honest?  The world is so dark right now. What is good is called evil. What is evil is called good. And the world just feels dark and so heavy. But this line reverberates with me - “what’s true in the light, is still true in the dark.” Thank God! So even in the darkness of the world, God is still there. He is still the light of the world and the Bible tells us he will overcome the darkness. Like Jesus overcame the grave, the darkness, he will overcome the darkness of this world. He will and we will praise him until he does, for he is worthy of praise.

And then the lines - “you’re good and you’re kind and you care for this heart”. Oh yes, he does! He is kind. He watches over us. He holds us in his hand. He protects us. He is so good that he sent his son to the cross to make a bridge from us to him. He cared enough for us, cared enough for our hearts that he humbled himself and became a man. He lived as one of us, just so he could relate to us and make a way. Wow! What an unbelievable God we serve. He is so good and so kind. Wow!

And then, the line - “You weep with me.” What? The God of all creation loves me enough to pause and weep with me? Whoa! Can you picture that? It’s hard to do because it is simply so powerful. I’ve felt this peace in my life. I’ve felt God weeping with me. It is so powerful to know that the God of all creation weeps with me over the things that hurt. He sees me. He holds me close and calls me friend. That makes my heart sing.

Verse 3

Part the seas

Lord, make a way for me

Here in the midst of my lament

I have faith, yes I still believe.

That You love me

Your plans are to prosper me

You're working everything for good

Even when I can't see.

Anyone at a tough place in your life? I believe that all of us would raise our hands. Maybe yours is different from mine, but we all have tough days, months, seasons. We get it. And they are hard. Maybe you are waiting for your “Red Seas” moment where God sweeps in and parts the sea where you can then walk, on dry ground, to the Promised Land. We all pray for this. 

Here’s what I have learned in my time about praying for a “Red Seas” moment. He is already making a way for me, even when I can’t see, even when we can’t see. Sometimes, often if you’re a Type A personality, we just want the Lord to show us what’s ahead or at least speed up the process to get us there faster. Like, come on already, right? But my life experience has shown me that God is weaving a beautiful tapestry called … LIFE. Here’s how I have explained this to my girls. What we see day-to-day is the back of that tapestry. The back looks messy, unfinished, and, honestly, very often, just plain ugly. But I know that God is there, always. 

Now, picture a finished, woven tapestry. Remember, when you see the back of that tapestry, it has many connections, long strings, and more. It isn’t super lovely to look at all, but then you turn the tapestry over, and BOOM!, you see the final picture. It’s beautiful. It’s intricate and detailed. It’s beyond the lovely of your expectations. It’s more than you had ever imagined it could be. It’s the line in the song that says, “you’re working everything for good, even when I can’t see.” Yes! Oh my goodness, yes! 

I’ve often told my girls that God only shows us what we need, one stitch at a time, one step at a time. The beautiful picture of our life is a work in progress. None of us have arrived yet. Some of us are a bit more ahead on the road, but we are all on this journey called life. We are all on the journey of creating that beautiful tapestry and God himself is  hand-creating the tapestry because he loves us so. Such a beautiful reminder. 

Bridge

Turn my lament into a love song.

From this lament, raise up an anthem.

When I first heard the bridge, I immediately loved it. Actually, after church, I came home and listened to the song over and over and every time, the bridge touched me. Now, what exactly does it mean to “lament”? Lament means “to express grief or to mourn”. Another place defines it like this and I just love this one, “to grieve audibly; wail”. Can you just picture the women wailing at the feet of Jesus on the cross? I sure can. How deeply sad that day must have felt. So sad that they lamented and audibly groaned. The world groaned that day as well.

Have you ever had a place like that in your life? Where you just audibly groan aloud? I have. Actually several. Just writing these words brings tears to my eyes and takes me back to that place where hurt, darkness, sadness had arrived. But I love this line in the song, “Turn my lament into a love song”. How on earth can that happen? How on earth can God take my audible groan, my wailing and turn it into a love song? Let’s pause for a minute. 

Remember God’s gorgeous plan for his children? God humbled himself enough to leave his throne in heaven to become a man and to walk upon this earth. And because he was a man in Jesus, he felt sadness, hurt, betrayal, fear, love, loneliness, and more. He knows all of the emotions that we feel. All of them. So, because he is good, because he is kind, he can take our grief and turn it into a love song by coming close to us in our time of need.  He comes close.

Psalm 34:18 says it like this, 

“The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.” 

Each and every time our heart breaks, the Lord draws near to us. And when he draws near, he takes every tear, every hurt, and turns it into a love song.  Sometimes it won’t feel like it. Sometimes it will be hard to believe, but it is true. The Bible even tells us that he turns mourning into dancing and grief into joy. What an amazing thing! Trust me, he surely does turn mourning into dancing. I’ve seen it, up close and personal. I’ve experienced it, along with many, many others, up close and personal.  And you will too.

Remember that tapestry? Well, joy truly comes when he turns that tapestry around and reveals the front side of the picture to you. Your beautiful LIFE tapestry. No other tapestry will be like it. It will be unique, one of a kind, and graciously, and lovingly created just for you. There will be no strings, no flaws in the picture, no messy bits,  just a beautiful tapestry of a life well lived. 

So, yes, lament and grieve when you need to. But then raise that lament into an anthem of joy and of praise and of goodness and light for all the world to see. He is capable of helping you do it. He is worthy of our pursuit to do it. And oh what a beautiful sight when the light of your life shines bright for all to see.

And, hey friend, if you want to know the sweet Jesus that I know and treasure so, reach out, I’d love to share his good news with you.

Until next time!

XOXO - Nikki

Song: Weep with Me - Rend Collective

Rend Collective - Weep With Me (Audio) - YouTube