Read Jeremiah 9:1-8
“Oh that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!” (v. 1).
Kansas City is sometimes called the “City of Fountains.” Only Rome has more public fountains than Kansas City. Take a trip with me to the wooden bench next to one of those fountains. We have arrived just after sunrise. The water is already running. As the city wakes up, a continual stream of water shoots out of a stone figure and splashes into the pool below. By lunchtime, the restaurant on the corner is crammed with patrons, yet the stream of water has not lessened nor the pool overflowed. We do not leave our bench until well after sunset, yet still we have not witnessed the end of the fountain’s supply or a change in the pool’s water level.
Of course, we understand the reasons for this, but have you ever felt your sorrow or compassion worked much the same way? Every tear you wept fell uselessly into a pool that neither eased your suffering nor helped the one who had caused it. Yet that realization does not stop the flow of tears.
Jeremiah’s ministry often revolved around tears. They were not magical tears — no healing or saving power was in them. Yet those tears, when mixed with a prayerful and obedient ministry to the very ones who caused his weeping, were exactly what God required. (Michelle Avery)

Have you ever wept over a soul?

This devotional is the Monday, October 5, 2015 entry of Opening the Word.