Luke 19:41 “And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it”
Psalm 126:5 “They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.”
A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to travel to Washington DC for the first time since beginning PLUS. While I enjoyed several opportunities to pray for my country in our nation’s capital during that week, the one most poignant was during the first night. The Lord had specifically tendered my heart for this occasion, and I had blocked off late-night time to go to the Lincoln Memorial for a period of reflection and prayer. I began my time by reading the inspirational words of the Gettysburg Address and Lincoln’s Second Inaugural carved on the memorial walls. Both flowed with the powerful emotion of a nation engulfed in a trying military conflict that would determine its continued existence.
I then sat down on a cold marble slab, enjoying the warm and cloudless night and the inspirational view down the National Mall towards the Washington Monument and the Capitol Building, flanked by the White House and the Jefferson Memorial. It was a striking location from which to pray for our nation. And so I prayed … and wept. I had never wept for my country before, but emotions swept over me as I considered a nation currently engulfed in a trying spiritual conflict that will determine its continued existence. I wept because I love my country, and I love my God, and I love a nation under God. I wept because I have failed to serve my country and my God as faithfully as I should. I wept because I sensed the failure of other Christians to do the same. I wept because our collective failure has enabled a conflict of secession, as forces continue to separate our nation from the Lord. I wept because I was deeply burdened by such truths.
I wept because I had never previously wept for my country. I had complained. I had been angered. I had felt anxiety. I had sensed a national departure from the Lord. Yet, I had never been so burdened that I had wept.
PLEASE PRAY THAT YOU WOULD BE DEEPLY BURDENED BY OUR NATION’S DEPARTURE FROM THE LORD. It is only through a burdened Christian citizenry that we should expect a national reconciliation with the Lord. Our nation is worth being wept over.