The world is a vale of tears. The Lord recognises that. It is not a constant experience of tears, but there are many causes of sorrow. There are sorrows from the effects of the curse, which are common to all human beings, the sorrow of losing those we love in death, the sorrow of disappointment, the sorrow of suffering human unkindness, the sorrow of sickness and pain and of growing old and seeing our faculties lose their ability to function. These sorrows are the common lot of mankind, believer and unbeliever. But it is especially to the believer that this world is a vale of tears. Some sorrows are unique to the Christian. ‘Blessed are those who mourn’ (Matthew 5:4), says the Lord. They mourn because of their sinfulness, their failure to control their lusts and their coldness of heart toward God. They suffer because they have to live in a world which is essentially evil and at enmity with God. It is a world that does not love or respect their heavenly Father. They see things that sadden them done to the honour of their Father and their Saviour and they cannot help but weep at times. They also mourn because they are absent from the Lord. The things that they love most are still in the future. Again, they mourn because they suffer as Christians. They are persecuted for their faith, facing hostility, deprivation and in some cases even death. They mourn too because they see a lost world around them. They try to explain the glorious gospel but so often it is pearls before swine and they are despised for their efforts.
All these things produce tears, but there are no tears that God is not able to wipe away. So much human comfort is superficial. We urge others not to be sad when we have no real ability to comfort them. The cause of sorrow that Christians face is often real. It cannot just be glossed over. We are not supposed to be stoics who just ignore sorrow or pretend that it does not exist. When God comforts, he recognises in the most profound way that the source of our sorrow is real. His comfort is all the more wonderful, because here is the perfect remedy for sorrow. When God wipes away our tears, this is not just an external act. God never half completes a job. All his works are perfect and thorough. He always tackles every problem at the root. The Lord will not remove the tears and leave the cause of the tears in place. He comforts by filling our hearts with joy, so there is no room for sorrow to remain.