As we have a Deep Concern for others, God makes our Tears into a Spring: the Spirit!

The best way to care for others is by having a deep concern for them, being concerned for their well-being and going on; furthermore, when we in the church life pass through the valley of weeping, God makes this valley a spring, which is the Spirit.

In ourselves we may not really be that emotional or ready to shed tears when we care for others or we preach the gospel to them, but when we allow the Lord to work Himself into us, our emotions become spiritual emotions, and they are rich and tender.

A spiritual person is full of emotions, but the emotions a spiritual person has are not natural but spiritual, and they are rich and tender.

If we look at ourselves we may see that we are not such ones but rather, many times we care for ourselves, our family, or just the saints that are related to us, and when someone does something to upset us, they “fall out of grace” with us.

Our natural emotions are spoiled and filled with the natural element, and even though we may show natural love toward someone today, we are not able to do the same the next day or the next month.

We need the Lord to work on us until our feelings are fine and tender.

The Lord’s feelings were fine and tender, and He did not merely do a work for God on earth, but He had a deep concern for the ones around Him, and He ministered something of God and of life into them.

Every time we allow God to work on us and in us, every time He chastises us and deals with us, our feelings become more finer and more sensitive.

This is the deepest lesson in the breaking of the outer man, for it touches our feelings and emotions and it deals with the way we feel, we express our emotions, and we care for others.

There has to be an unrelenting process of breaking especially in the lives of many brothers so that they would be entrusted by the Lord with the ministry; they cannot serve merely in themselves or by their own feelings and emotions, but in the Lord and through the spiritual emotions that the Lord has wrought into them.

The ministering of such brothers will bring all of us in the process of becoming tenderhearted, long suffering, and spiritual in our emotions, for they are able to serve the saints with tears.

And their serving is not a performance but it is according to the measure that God has allotted them.

When the Lord makes us tenderhearted, we will not judge or condemn others but rather, we will be kind to them, we will be tenderhearted, and we will forgive them even as the Lord has forgiven us.

When we realize how much the Lord has forgiven us, we will also forgive others.

The more we enjoy Christ and experience Him as our life supply, the more our hearts become tender and we become tenderhearted, forgiving others.

Our need to have a Deep Concern for others in our Care for them

A deep concern. This is our need. In our family life, in our church life, and even at work, at home, among our neighbours, and among all people, what we need is a deep concern.

If we read 2 Corinthians we see how Paul had a deep, tender, and intimate concern for the believers in Corinth; he didn’t just write to them but opened his heart to them, allowed them into his heart, and expressed his deep concern for them.

When we say “deep concern” we don’t mean that others are in a serious situation or backslidden, so we need to be deeply concerned for their situation.

Rather, in the church life and in our family life, what we need is to be concerned for one another in order to care for one another.

Because Paul’s expression in his writing was tender and filled with such an intimate and deep concern, it had power and impact, and he could touch the believers deeply.

Humanly speaking, a mother has not only love for her child; she also has a deep concern.

She doesn’t merely care for her children but rather, she is concerned for their growth, their development, their learning, their eating, and their proper advance in the human life.

A woman may lack in education, but this doesn’t disqualify her from being a mother; rather, if she has a deep concern for her children, she is qualified to be a good mother.

Knowledge and ability are useful, and they help the mother to conscientiously care for her children and her home, but they are not prerequisites.

Similarly, in caring for the saints in the church what we need is not merely knowledge or ability but a deep concern.

The Lord Jesus had a deep concern for His disciples and for those around Him; often He was moved with compassion for the people of Israel, and He cared for the disciples in an individual and corporate way with a deep concern.

He even told Peter that Satan wants to sift the disciples, but He prayed for his faith; then, after His resurrection, He perfected Peter’s faith and love out of deep concern for him.

In the church life those who serve shouldn’t seek merely to be capable or knowledgeable; the primary matter is a deep concern for all the saints, especially for the young ones and weaker ones.

Having a deep concern causes our labor to be fruitful. We all need to have such an intimate concern for the saints.

Paul’s deep concerned was expressed in him saying to the Corinthians, “Make room for us…” (2 Cor. 7:2).

His longing was just as he had the Corinthians in his heart, so he would be in their heart, for they were to live together and to die together. What a care and concern!

Do we consider the saints as being in our heart, and do we want to be in their heart? Do we have enough room in our heart for the saints, and do we get inscribed on the saints’ heart?

It is only by having an intimate concern, a deep concern for others that they get into our heart and we get on their heart.

May the Lord produce among us such persons, those who are concerned for the saints, bear them before the Lord, have them in their heart for their living and dying together, and have an intimate, deep concern for others, so that at the end of this age God would gain a proper and genuine church life and living that is the living as the reality of the Body of Christ.

Lord Jesus, we open to You and allow You to give us a genuine, intimate, and deep concern for the saints and for those around us. We admit that in ourselves we don’t have such a care or concern, but we open to You, dear Lord, so that You may shepherd us, infuse us, and produce in us such a deep concern for Your people and for all people. May our expression be tender and filled with intimate concern so that it may have power and impact, being able to touch the others deeply. Oh Lord, before the end of this age, gain us and gain so many to have this kind of deep, intimate concern in a tender way for the saints and for those around us, so that there would be a proper ministry of life into them!

When we pass through the Valley of Weeping, God makes it a Spring, which Spring is the Spirit!

In Psa. 84:6 we see the “passing through the valley of Baca, they make it a spring; indeed the early rain covers it with blessings”.

Jeremiah was the weeping prophet; the Lord Jesus didn’t just do the work God commissioned Him to do but also wept and had a deep concern for those around Him; Paul also shed many tears as he shepherded the saints and declared to them the whole counsel of God.

We can say that, when we shed tears for others in our care for them, even as we are one with the Lord and have a deep concern for those that He cares for, thus shedding tears, we pass through the valley of Baca.

Baca means weeping. On one hand when we came into the church life, we were strengthened in God; on the other hand, we were opposed by Satan, who has caused many saints to suffer persecution.

This trouble or persecution can make our highway a valley of weeping; if we take the highway to go to God’s house, trouble and persecution will come to us, and such things will cause us to weep.

When we are joined to the Lord in caring for others, having a deep concern for them and shepherding them according to God, we shed tears.

However, God will turn our tears into a spring. The more tears we shed, the greater will be the spring; even more, the early rain covers it with blessings.

We shed tears out of deep concern for others and also as a result of persecution and opposition, but the Lord makes these tears become a spring, even the early rain that covers the whole situation with blessings.

This early rain is the Spirit, and the Spirit is our blessing.

We may be sorrowful and shed tears, we may be deeply concerned for others and weep for them, or we may be persecuted and opposed and weep, but the Lord somehow makes these tears become a spring, the Spirit as the early rain.

The result is not that we are sorrowful, sad, or disappointed, but that we are filled with the Spirit, we love the Lord more, and we advance with Him.

The tears we shed ar our own, but they become a spring, which is the early rain, the Spirit as the blessing!

May we have the highways of Zion in our heart, having the church life at the core of our being.

There may be times that we sense the anguish, the tears, and the sorrow in the saints, and there will be the love, the concern, the tenderness, the compassion, and the forbearance, even the Spirit as the early rain, showering us with blessings.

Only those who weep will have a spring; there’s a spring there when we weep, shedding tears, and there’s the living water flowing from our being into others and into the whole church!

The more tears we shed, the greater will be the spring.

We shouldn’t pray for tears or sorrow, thus making ourselves vulnerable to Satan’s attack; we should simply be open to the Lord, being willing for Him to work on us so that we may express Him in His feelings and tenderheartedness.

The tears we shed as we have a deep concern for others and care for them is not something shallow; rather, there’s a fountain springing up from these tears.

And what we will remember when we meet the Lord will not be the tears, for He will wipe away every tear from our eyes – and we will remember the fountain, the spring of living water!

We need to be encouraged and realize that, the more we weep on the highways to Zion, the more we receive the Spirit; while we are weeping, we are being filled with the Spirit, and the Spirit becomes our spring.

The Lord has His own way to use the tears that we shed and cause them to issue in a spring, which becomes the early rain, the Spirit as the blessing (Zech. 10:1; Gal. 3:14; Eph. 1:3).

Thank You Lord that, even though we may pass through the valley of weeping, God makes this valley a spring, even showers of blessing, showers of the Spirit! We come to You, dear Lord, to have You wrought into our being. May there be the highways of Zion in our heart, having the church life at the very core of our being and in every aspect of our life. Keep us one spirit with You, Lord. We are willing to be worked on by You so that we may express You and represent You. Fill us with an intimate and deep concern for people; may we not be ashamed or afraid to shed tears for others or for the situation. We believe in You, dear Lord, and we praise You that our tears will issue in a spring, which becomes the early rain, the Spirit as the blessing! Hallelujah!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by Ron Kangas for this week, and portions from, Life-study of the Psalms, msgs. 32-33 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization Study of Jeremiah and Lamentations, week 1, Jeremiah, the Tenderhearted Prophet of the Tenderhearted God.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – For her my tears shall fall, / For her my prayers ascend; / To her my cares and toils be given / Till toils and cares shall end. / Beyond my highest joy / I prize her heavenly ways, / Her sweet communion, solemn vows, / Her hymns of love and praise. (Hymns #853)
  – Blessed is the man whose heart, to / Zion, is an open way; / He’s the one whose strength is in Thee; / He will praise Thee all the day. / In communion with the churches, / Trusting Thee, Thy praise he sings; / Passing through the weeping valley, / It becomes a place of springs. (Hymns #1258)
  – How blessed are those men indeed! / Trusting in Thee they are made strong; / Highways to Zion in their hearts, / The way they care not, rough or long. / Passing the weeping valley they / Make it a place of springing wells; / The rain with blessings covers it / And in the way God’s mercy tells. (Hymns #851)