Weep With Me - The Rend Collective

scripture and prayer reflection

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Lyrics

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

Hear my plea

Are You even listening?

Lord I will wrestle with Your heart

But I won't let You go

You know I believe

Help my unbelief

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

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

You know I believe

Help my unbelief

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

That you weep with me

Turn my lament into a love song

From this lament, raise up an anthem

Oh I'll sing it in the darkness

Yet I will praise You

Yet I will sing of Your name

Right here in the shadows

Right here I will offer my praise

What was 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

That you weep with me

Yeah you weep with me

John 11:32-35

32 Now when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet, saying to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” 33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled. 34 And he said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” 35 Jesus wept.

Mark 9:17-18, 22b-24

17 And someone from the crowd answered him, “Teacher, I brought my son to you, for he has a spirit that makes him mute. 18 And whenever it seizes him, it throws him down, and he foams and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid. So I asked your disciples to cast it out, and they were not able.”

22b But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.” 23 And Jesus said to him, “‘If you can’! All things are possible for one who believes.” 24 Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, “I believe; help my unbelief!”

Habakkuk 3:17-19

17 Though the fig tree should not blossom,

nor fruit be on the vines,

the produce of the olive fail

and the fields yield no food,

the flock be cut off from the fold

and there be no herd in the stalls,

18 yet I will rejoice in the Lord;

I will take joy in the God of my salvation.

19 God, the Lord, is my strength;

he makes my feet like the deer's;

he makes me tread on my high places.

Reflection

Weep With Me is a hard look at the wrestling required to trust God in the midst of darkness. The songwriter, following the pattern found in many of the psalms of lament, cries out to God and wonders if He is even listening as painful circumstances remain unchanged.

When doubts and fears arise, when pain becomes overwhelming, when we feel crushed by loss or grief, it can feel as though our grip on the truth of God’s character is tenuous at best. Even if we are able to mentally assent to God’s goodness, subtle hopelessness might arise about the efficacy of His power to actually help us. Even if we are able to hang onto God’s power, we can easily slip into calling His goodness into question as what we experience appears to us to be so very not good. We can start to feel like God is withholding goodness from us, that He doesn’t want to help us, or that at best He is indifferent to our pain.

And yet what a different picture we see in Jesus’ response to those in grief. Though He knew that He would raise Lazarus from the dead in a few short minutes, He pauses to enter into the grief of Mary and Martha at the loss of their brother. With Jesus as the clearest picture of God’s heart, we see that He is not indifferent to pain. Nor is He powerless to help, as He demonstrates in raising Lazarus to life again.

But as is true so often with us, belief is mixed with unbelief, diluted by fears, worries, and a desire for control. Like the father of the demon-possessed boy, we also must cry out for help even to believe. What relief then to see that Jesus did not turn that father away because of his unbelief, born of fear intermingled with hope! He instead reached out and restored the boy, returning him to his father.

Take some time to reflect on dark or painful seasons in your own life. What do you long for from God in those times? When doubts arise, is it His goodness or His power that more easily comes into question for you? How do you respond to these questions or doubts? Read and pray through Habbakuk 3:17-19 slowly. What from the passage feels hard to pray honestly? Talk with God about what comes up.