Help in answering this question comes from a servant of God who also passed through a national crisis-Jeremiah . Called as a youth from a priestly family , the prophet was in Jerusalem when the city was totally ravaged and destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 BCE . He speaks to us now , as we read his responses to the tragic outcome of our nation ’ s then backslidden condition .
Jeremiah touches on three necessary conditions of our heart amidst unbearable loss and diabolical opposition . We need a heart that breaks , a heart that seeks and a heart that is loved and loves .
A Heart that BREAKS
How are we to Respond on the Inside ?
While each of these immediate crises are first in the triage of rampant human need , there is another , subterranean level of our situation that cannot be ignored . It is the condition and the need of our heart . How are we to respond — on the inside , to the stark evil that took place on that black Shabbat ( ironically Simchat Torah--in nightmarish parallel to the multi-nation surprise attack that shocked all Israel on Yom Kippur exactly 50 years earlier ). How can we find the inner fortitude required by this existential crisis — an excruciating crisis thrust upon the Jewish people and all who worship the God of Israel ?
The harvest is past , the summer is ended , and we are not saved ! For the hurt of the daughter of my people I am hurt . I am mourning ; astonishment has taken hold of me … Oh , that my head were waters , and my eyes a fountain of tears , that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people ! ( Jeremiah 8:20,21 ; 9:1 )
The issue here is honesty about our emotions . Jeremiah was unashamed to reveal his inner anguish . He grieved . He wept . He poured out his broken heart in agonizing intercession . It has been said that “ the best way to survive grief is to express it .” While travailing In the Garden of Gethsemane , Yeshua ' s travail turned his sweat into great drops of blood . In this “ garden ” olives
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