Discovering Destiny (Part 59): Your Tears Are Not Wasted
Today, we continue our focus on THE YEAR OF DISCOVERY, as we learn to maintain our posture of faith after God has revealed His plans for our future.
Key scriptures for this year:
2 Peter 3:18 GNT
"But continue to grow in the grace and in the knowledge of our Savior, Jesus Christ. To Him be glory now and forever."
Luke 10:20 Mirror
"It's time for you to rediscover who you are from Heaven's perspective."
1 John 3:10 Mirror
"There is a very visible and vast difference between living one's life from your God identity or from a fallen man's mindset."
Proverbs 25:2 NKJV
"It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, but the glory of kings is to search out a matter."
Jeremiah 29:13 NIV
"You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart."
Scripture(s) we will study today:
Genesis 45:14-15 TPT
"Then Joseph threw his arms around Benjamin's neck, sobbing, and Benjamin wept on Joseph's neck. With tears streaming down his face, Joseph kissed each brother, one by one. After their tearful, emotional embrace, they took time to speak brother-to-brother."
Supporting scriptures:
Genesis 42:24 TPT
"Deeply affected by what he heard, Joseph began to weep and hurriedly left their presence. After he had composed himself, he returned to them, and pointing to Simeon, said, 'This one will remain here.' Then he had him tied and bound while they all watched."
Genesis 43:30 AMPC
"And Joseph hurried from the room, for his heart yearned for his brother, and he sought privacy to weep; so he entered his chamber and wept there."
Genesis 46:29 TPT
"Joseph got in his chariot and rode to Goshen to meet his father, Israel. As soon as Joseph saw his father, he threw his arms around his father's neck and wept for a long time."
Genesis 50:17 TPT
"'Tell Joseph that I beg him to completely forgive the sin of his brothers who treated him so harshly.' Now, please forgive us, servants of the God of your father, of the horrible wrong we did to you.' Joseph cried and wept as they read this message to him."
Genesis 37:35 NLT
"His family all tried to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. 'I will go to my grave mourning for my son,' he would say, and then he would weep."
John 11:35 NLT
"Then Jesus wept."
Hebrews 4:15 AMPC
"For we do not have a High Priest Who is unable to understand and sympathize and have a shared feeling with our weaknesses and infirmities and liability to the assaults of temptation, but One Who has been tempted in every respect as we are, yet without sinning."
Ezekiel 36:26 NLT
"And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart."
Psalm 56:8 NLT
"You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book."
Psalm 126:5-6 TPT
"Those who sow their tears as seeds will reap a harvest with joyful shouts of glee. They may weep as they go out carrying their seed to sow, but they will return with joyful laughter and shouting with gladness as they bring back armloads of blessing and a harvest overflowing!"
Setting the Stage:
Yesterday, Joseph cleared the room, broke down, and said, "I am Joseph!" Then he told his brothers three times that God sent him ahead of them. But the scene is not over. Joseph tells them to hurry home, get their father, and bring the whole family down to Egypt, because there are still five years of famine left. And then the governor of Egypt does something nobody in that room expected.
He walks over to Benjamin, his only full brother, the other son of his mother Rachel, the little brother he had not seen since Benjamin was a boy. The Bible says, "Joseph threw his arms around Benjamin's neck, sobbing, and Benjamin wept on Joseph's neck." Then he goes down the line. Reuben. Simeon. Levi. Judah. One by one, the men who threw him in a pit and sold him for silver. "With tears streaming down his face, Joseph kissed each brother, one by one."
Now think about what just happened. 22 years earlier, these men hated him so much they could not say one kind word to him. Now the man they sold is crying on their necks. And the Bible closes the scene with this line: "After their tearful, emotional embrace, they took time to speak brother-to-brother." The tears came first. The conversation came after. And this was not the first time Joseph cried in this story, and it would not be the last. From the day his brothers bowed in the grain line to the day he buried his father, Joseph cried seven times. The most powerful man in Egypt cried more than anybody else in his own story, and he never lost a thing.
Here is what I want you to see today. Tears did not make Joseph weak. Tears did not cost him his position, his authority, or his destiny. His tears showed that his heart was still soft after everything they did to him, and God used that soft heart to save a family and build a nation. Some of you have cried a lot on the way to your destiny, and you have wondered if any of it counted. Hear me today: your tears are not wasted.
So, what does this mean for you today? A few things.
1. Your Tears Are Not A Sign Of Weakness.
Think about who is crying in this story. Not a scared boy in a pit. The prime minister of Egypt, second only to Pharaoh, with the king's signet ring on his finger, a royal chariot at his door, and armed men who would carry out any order he gave. One word from him, and the 10 brothers never go home. And that man cried seven times. He wept behind closed doors, he wept in front of his brothers, he wept on Benjamin's neck, and he wept on his father's neck. Here is the part the world gets wrong: strength and tenderness live in the same heart. Joseph ran the largest economy on earth, and he still cried. The Son of God did the same thing. Standing outside the tomb of a friend He was about to raise from the dead, "Jesus wept" (John 11:35 NLT).
How this applies to you:
-- Being destined does not mean life is supposed to be easy. God never promised you a perpetual picnic. He promised to be with you, and He promised to finish what He started.
-- Tears do not cancel your strength; they prove your heart is still alive.
-- Joseph had the power to destroy the men who sold him. Instead, he wept over them. That is what strength under control looks like.
-- Jesus knew He was about to raise Lazarus, and He still wept.
-- Hebrews says Jesus is able to "understand and sympathize and have a shared feeling with our weaknesses" (Hebrews 4:15 AMPC). You do not serve a God who is embarrassed by your tears.
-- Some of us were taught that strong men do not cry, so we learned to hold it in. Joseph held it in for 22 years, and it still came out.
-- The man of destiny in this story is the one crying the most.
-- God planned your destiny before you were born, and He knew every tear you would cry on the way to it. Your tears were not caused by a detour; they were part of the road to your destiny.
2. A Soft Heart Will Take You Further Than A Hard One.
There are two men weeping in the Joseph story, and they weep in two very different ways. When Jacob saw the bloody coat, the Bible says, "His family all tried to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted" (Genesis 37:35 NLT). Jacob cried and closed the door. Joseph cried and opened it. Jacob's tears held on to what he lost, and Joseph's tears let go of what was done to him. I have taught you before that the fact Joseph wept uncontrollably, instead of being filled with hatred and malice, is a clear indication that he had released them in his heart a long time before that day. God has promised to do the same thing in you: "I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart" (Ezekiel 36:26 NLT).
How this applies to you:
-- Being destined does not mean you will not have painful moments. But you don’t have to allow the pain to harden you. Grace will keep your heart soft.
-- Jacob wept and refused comfort. Joseph wept and released the offense. Same tears, different directions.
-- A hard heart protects you from the next hurt, but it also locks out the next blessing.
-- Joseph could not have hugged his brothers if he had been holding a grudge. Bitterness would have kept him locked in the pit on the inside, even after God got him out of it.
-- There are countless Christians who are living within a prison inside of their own heart because they refuse to let some things go. Please don't let that be you.
-- A soft heart is not a weak heart; it is a healed heart.
-- Your destiny is tied to people, and you cannot reach the people God sent you to with a heart made of stone. Keep your heart soft, because your destiny needs it.
-- For you to become the man/woman God called you to be, the Holy Spirit needs you to listen to His whispers, and you won't be able to if your heart is hard.
3. God Keeps Record Of Every Tear You Cry.
Twice, Joseph cried where nobody could see him. The first time, he "began to weep and hurriedly left their presence" (Genesis 42:24 TPT). The second time, "his heart yearned for his brother, and he sought privacy to weep; so he entered his chamber and wept there" (Genesis 43:30 AMPC). Nobody in Egypt knew what was happening behind that door, but God did. I remember the day I sat in an empty church, ready to teach our noonday Bible study, and nobody showed up. We had gone from over 40 people a day to none. I sat there and cried, and nobody saw it. But the Holy Spirit did, and He asked me if I had my lesson. I said yes. He told me to teach. I said nobody was there. He said, "I am here." I started teaching to an empty church. Then He said, "Because you were willing to preach to an empty room, you'll never have to do that again." David put it this way: "You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book" (Psalm 56:8 NLT).
How this applies to you:
-- Joseph’s story is one of the clearest stories about destiny in the Bible, and he cried seven times. If destiny exempted you from pain, Joseph would never have shed a tear.
-- No tear you cry is ever lost on God.
-- David said God keeps "track of all my sorrows." He does not just see your tears; He keeps them.
-- Some of your hardest nights happened behind a closed door, just like Joseph's. God was in the room.
-- In God’s Kingdom, private tears get public answers.
-- Joseph cried alone in chapter 43 and cried in front of everybody in chapter 45. The tears God recorded in private became the reunion He revealed in public.
-- God recorded your tears in His book, and He wrote your destiny before you were born. The same God keeps both records.
-- Here’s the good news: nothing you cried over is outside the reach of His plan. God can heal every hurt.
4. God Will Turn Your Tears Of Pain Into Tears Of Joy.
Walk through the seven times Joseph wept, because together they tell a story. In chapter 42, he wept over the pain of hearing what his brothers had done to him. In chapter 43, he wept over the brother he loved. In chapter 45, "He wept so loudly the Egyptians could hear him" (Genesis 45:2 NLT), and then he wept on Benjamin's neck and kissed every brother. In chapter 46, he threw his arms around his father's neck and "wept for a long time" (Genesis 46:29 TPT). In chapter 50, he wept over Jacob's body, and "his tears fell on his father's face" (Genesis 50:1 TPT). And the last time, when his brothers still doubted that he had forgiven them, "Joseph cried and wept as they read this message to him" (Genesis 50:17 TPT). The tears started in pain, and they ended in reunion, love, and grace. The psalmist said, "Those who sow their tears as seeds will reap a harvest with joyful shouts of glee" (Psalm 126:5-6 TPT). Joseph sowed tears for 22 years. Then the harvest came.
How this applies to you:
-- Tears are seeds, and seeds always produce a harvest.
-- Joseph wept in pain in chapter 42 and wept for joy on his father's neck in chapter 46. It was the same man, but God changed the tears.
-- Weeping is a season, not a sentence.
-- The psalmist said those who weep as they carry their seed "will return with joyful laughter and shouting with gladness." You may be weeping on the way out, but you will have joy on the way back.
-- If you are crying right now, you are not at the end of your story. You are in the planting season.
-- The same God who counted your tears is about to turn them into joy.
-- Crying does not mean you're not destined. It means you're human, and it means your heart is open to God. And the same God who was watching over you while you were weeping will ensure that pain ushers you into your purpose.
That's enough for today.
Declaration of Faith:
Father, my tears are not wasted, because You collect every one!
My tears are not a sign of weakness!
I can be strong and tender at the same time!
I will not let pain harden my heart!
You have given me a tender, responsive heart!
I release every offense, and I keep my heart open!
You see what I cry in private, and You answer in public!
I am sowing in tears, and I will reap in joy!
My weeping is a season, not a sentence!
Every tear is part of the destiny You planned for me!
In THE YEAR OF DISCOVERY, GREATER IS COMING FOR ME!
I declare this by faith. In Jesus' name. Amen!
This is Today's Word. Apply it and prosper!
Comments