SEPTEMBER 17 "DO MEN CRY?"

 We tend to read the bible and think about what is written, but we don't think about "who wrote it". This is very nice and comforting read, in Psalms 61, "listen to my cry.....I cry to you for help when my heart is overwhelmed..." I'm sure many women read this in their affliction and find comfort that they are not alone. And they are not alone, they are in great company; and who is their company, DAVID. King David, the Warrior, Conqueror! Women are finding great comfort in reading, poetic metaphors, not written by Ruth, Rebecca, Mary, Esther or any other woman, but by David. If today we found these writings in a private journal of a man, we thought to be a man's man, we would ex-communicate him.The only problem is, we cannot find more of a man's man, in the bible, than David. Today, we have this persona, that men do not cry and are not overwhelmed. So then why do they drink so much? Why are they so violent, so abusive? Why are they so unfaithful? Why do they come to church for a while and then disappear?  Why are they such substance abusers, why are jails & prisons mostly filled with men? David was in jail, David did not drink himself into an oblivion, David did not take out his frustrations by abusing his wife and/or children. So what did David do? He cried out to God and told God he was "overwhelmed".  Overwhelmed with responsibilities, overwhelmed by his enemies, overwhelmed by the problems in his family, in short, he was overwhelmed with Life!  We sing this song in Church, "when my heart is overwhelmed, when my heart is aching....lead me to the Rock, the Rock that's higher than I."  The women are engrossed in this song, the men are thinking, "what kind of pansy of a man would lift his hands and sing this?"  Little do they know that the song was written by a Warrior, a man that chopped of Goliath's head and killed thousands of men, a man's man, tougher than most men would ever dream to be. The question is, "do men cry, do men get overwhelmed" the answer is most definitely, "yes", the difference is, men will not admit it, rather than cry out to God as David did and get victory and dominion, they cover it up through alcohol, drugs, physical and verbal abuse towards those they love and they engage themselves infidelity to try to reassert their manhood. It causes them to quite their jobs, forsake their families and run; and yet somehow a man doesn't view that as being weak or acting like a pansy, but some how crying out to God is? The strongest men, are those who do admit they cry, even if inside; and do admit life overwhelms them and then cry out to God. I guarantee you, any Christian man that you see in your Church that seems very strong is a man who knows he is very weak He is a man that cries out to God, day in and day out and is not ashamed or embarrassed to sing, "listen to my cry, when my heart is overwhelmed, lead me to the Rock" and in so doing , God takes that man and puts him on top of the rock while other men get crushed at the bottom of the rock by the waves and storms of life.

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