God Shall Wipe Away Every Tear

 I once had a doll named “Pitiful Pearl” when I was a small child. In all my memories of her she has a tiny tear attached to her homely little face. Whether the tear was an original part of the doll or I drew it on her, I’m not sure. I only remember one of her big eyes had a tiny tear affixed to it which made her look perpetually sad, even though she wore a faint painted on smile. Her clothes were all bedraggled giving her the appearance of a poor abandoned orphan.

 I wanted this doll from the moment I saw her advertised. I don’t remember whether she was a Christmas or birthday gift, but my mom and dad always bought me the dolls I requested without asking any questions. They never failed to encourage me to be myself and to play with the toys that spoke to my heart.

They were wonderful parents for they always nurtured me in the gifts and talents that God had given me.

I loved my little Pearl. I pretended she was the “Little Match Girl” in Hans Christian Andersen’s Fairy Tale and poor Cinderella and every other victim in many another fairy tale. She was a great doll! And if I felt sad in any way I would identify with her.

Like the time my imaginary friend Dinky called my little sister a “Stinker” – a notoriously bad word in those days- and I got in trouble for it!!

But then came the day when my oldest brother went on a rampage and decided to pretend to have a war raid. He had been inspired by old west movies and TV shows.

My dolls became the hapless victims of his vivid imagination. He kidnapped my Chatty Cathy and my Pitiful Pearl and buried them in the vast no man’s land we called “the Lot” outside far beyond the garage somewhere and then refused to tell me where he’d buried my precious dolls.

I was inconsolable… till I discovered the Barbie, Ken, and Midge dolls… 🙂

That Pitiful Pearl doll has lived in my memory more than any other doll I had as a child. Maybe it’s because of its sad little tear and incongruous smile despite its raggedness.

The Bible says in Psalm 34:18 “The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.”

God cherishes each of us. He came to us in the form of a man, as Jesus Christ to save us from our sins. Jesus told the Pharisees, who were the religious leaders of His day, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.” -Luke 5:31-32

The Bible says in the book of Romans 3:23 “…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

Jesus Christ came to save all people. For God’s word says in Romans 3:10-11: “.. as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God.”

We all need Jesus. But not all see this truth. Jesus said in His sermon on the Mount, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:3)

In God’s sight, we all, like my Pitiful Pearl doll, have a tiny tear in our eye. That tear is sin, a hopelessness, that only He can wipe away. Jesus has made a way to wash this tear away, through His spotless blood that He shed for all of us on His cross when He suffered and died for our sins over 2000 years ago.

 He says in Romans 10:9-11, 13 “…if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” …For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

Though we may die and be buried like my Pitiful Pearl doll, Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.” (John 11:25-26)

Pitiful Pearl still lives on in my heart though she’s been buried in the lot of the house where I grew up for many years now. Her memory has never left me.

Even so, those who love Jesus will live forever in the heart of God, only in a more beautiful way which is far beyond anything we could ever dream or imagine.

 God’s word says in 1 Corinthians 2:9 “But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him…”—

 And as for all our tears, God promises to wipe away every tear, every sorrow, and all death forever someday.

Revelation 21:4 says, “God will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

 These are beautiful truths to ponder and be thankful for as we gather with our loved ones and friends over the Thanksgiving Holidays.  May each of you have a blessed Thanksgiving with your loved ones and friends. God bless you all with rivers of peace, hope, health, and joy, in Jesus name, amen.