Some who come to this page are tired in a way that sleep does not touch — living with pain that never fully leaves, or carrying a grief that has become a daily companion. If that is you, this is not a page of easy answers. It is one promise, held out gently, from the One who does not look away from what you are carrying.
The promise, in His own words
“And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.” — Revelation 21:4
Read what He actually says. Not less pain — no more pain. Not death managed — no more death. And notice whose hand does the wiping: not an angel, not a servant — God shall wipe away all tears. The God of all heaven stoops to a tear-streaked face and, personally, with His own hand, dries it. Isaiah saw the same day: “he will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from off all faces” (Isaiah 25:8).
Your tears are not unseen now
But that is the then. What about the long now? Scripture will not leave you alone in it. God is not a distant observer of your suffering; He keeps a record of it:
“Thou tellest my wanderings: put thou my tears into thy bottle: are they not in thy book?” — Psalm 56:8
He collects your tears like something precious and writes each sorrow in His book. Not one has fallen unnoticed. “The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit” (Psalm 34:18). And when He walked among us, at the grave of a friend, “Jesus wept” (John 11:35) — God Himself with tears on His face. Whatever else is true of your pain, this is true: it is seen, and it is shared by the One who made you.
Real, but not forever
The Bible never asks you to pretend the pain is small. It does something better — it weighs it against what is coming, and tells the truth about both:
“For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.” — Romans 8:18
All creation, Paul says, “groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now,” and we groan with it, “waiting for… the redemption of our body” (Romans 8:22-23). There is coming a resurrection body with no sickness in it. So the affliction that feels endless is called, from heaven’s side, “light” and “but for a moment,” because it is “working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory” (2 Corinthians 4:17). The pain is real. It is also temporary. Both are true, and the second one gets the last word.
The hero of this page
Look above at the engraving. A little girl lies still; her parents are bent double with grief. Then the Lord steps into the room, takes her by the hand, and says, “Maid, arise” (Luke 8:54) — and she gets up. That is a preview, in one room, of what Revelation 21 promises for the whole creation. The same hands that lifted Jairus’ daughter off that bed are the hands that will wipe the tears from your face. Death obeyed Him then; it will obey Him finally. He has already shown us how the story ends.
Grace to carry it until then
And He does not make you wait empty-handed. For the stretch of road between now and then, He gives daily strength: “he giveth more grace” (James 4:6); “my grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9); “as thy days, so shall thy strength be” (Deuteronomy 33:25). You are not asked to find enough strength for the whole journey today — only enough for today, and He supplies that, morning by morning.
How to lay hold of the promise
The new world where every tear is dried belongs to those who belong to Him — and He makes the invitation wide open: “I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely” (Revelation 21:6). The door into that promise is the same one the whole church came through:
“Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.” — Acts 2:38
Hold on. The One who keeps your tears in a bottle is coming to wipe them away for good — with His own hand, and forever.
Our life in Christ has not always been easy — trials come and go. But in more than fifty years, God has never once failed to bless when the need arose. The pain was real; so was the grace that met it, every single time. He will meet you too. Read the whole story →