Topical Studies
What the Bible says about
Groaning
(From Forerunner Commentary)
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Ezekiel 9:4
God spares those who suffer inner torment due to the rising societal evils around them. Why? What is so significant about sighing and crying over this world's abominable way of life? Sigh, by way of definition, is Strong's #584, and it means "to groan," "to mourn," and "to moan." Its rather interesting first use is found in Exodus 2:23-25: Now it happened in the process of time that the king of Egypt died. Then the children of Israel groaned because of their bondage, and they cried out; and their cry came up to God because of the bondage. So God heard their groaning, and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. And God looked upon the children of Israel, and God acknowledged them. (Emphasis ours throughout.) Note from the context that our God is a covenant-keeping God. He remembers His covenant and acknowledges those who hear Him and those who sigh among His people. In the Exodus story, He moved to redeem them from their bondage in Egypt, making a distinction between them and their oppressors (Exodus 8:22; 11:7). Cry is Strong's #602 (a fairly rare word, used only four times in Scripture), and it also means "to groan," but it has another meaning as well: "to shriek." This word contains a great deal of emotional meaning. It involves a person's innermost feelings. But, sighing and crying involves a lot more than emotion. For us to rightly understand what God requires of us, today, it is necessary to explain the thinking, the reason, that is behind "sighing and crying." Sound reason underlies the emotion expressed by sighing and crying, which needs elaboration before proceeding further. Neuroscientists used to talk about compartments in the brain. Sometimes in the popular press there is an occasional assertion that one section of the brain is for sight, another one for hearing, another one for mathematical skills, and yet another for artistic skills. The faculty of reason is supposed to reside in the prefrontal cortex, and emotion comes from another area. This idea is called the "localization thesis." It is a simplistic view that has pretty much fallen by the wayside by neuroscientists who have come to know more about how our brains function. One critic of this thesis says: . . . functions [of the brain], like properties, are distributed (they require a whole system or mechanism to be realized [or actuated]). . . . A danger inherent in the localization thesis may be illuminated by analogy to an internal combustion engine. In describing an engine, one might be tempted to say, "the opening of the intake valve is caused by the movement of the rocker arm." Except that the rocker is, in turn, set in motion by the camshaft, the camshaft by the crankshaft, the crank by a connecting rod, the rod by the piston. But of course, the piston won't move unless the intake valve opens to let the air-fuel mixture in. This logic is finally circular because, really, it is the entire mechanism that "causes" the opening of the intake valve; any less holistic view truncates the causal picture and issues in statements that are, at best, partially true. Given that the human brain is more complexly interconnected than a motor by untold orders of magnitude, it is a dubious undertaking to say that any localized organic structure [any section of the brain] is the sufficient cause and exclusive locus of something like "reason" or "emotion." . . . [For instance] the amygdala is said to be the seat of emotion, the prefrontal cortex of reason. Yet when I get angry, for example, I generally do so for a reason; typically I judge myself or another wronged. To cleanly separate emotion from reason-giving makes a hash of human experience. . . . (Matthew B. Crawford, "The Limits of Neuro-Talk," The New Atlantis, Number 19, Winter 2008, pp. 65-78) Emotion and reason are not separate entities. They do not occur in discrete areas of the brain, and it is far better to understand them to be two sides of the same coin. One needs both sides; one cannot have a coin with a single side. It is an impossibility. Therefore, sighing and crying are not just emotions or feelings. They are not just matters of the heart but also matters of the head. These expressed feelings have reason—thought—firmly attached to them.
Charles Whitaker
The Torment of the Godly (Part Two)
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Ezekiel 9:4-7
Ezekiel 9 records the prophet's vision of the marking of those "who sigh and cry over all the abominations that are done" (Ezekiel 9:4) and the slaying of all those who do not (Ezekiel 9:5-7). God explains to Ezekiel, "The iniquity of the house of Israel and Judah is exceedingly great, and the land is full of bloodshed, and the city full of perversity; for they say, 'The LORD has forsaken the land, and the LORD does not see!'" (Ezekiel 9:9). What does it mean to "sigh and cry"? The Hebrew word for "sigh" is 'ânah, which means "to sigh, groan, or gasp." The Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament comments, "Ezekiel's references point to exercise of heart on the part of those who sighed over Israel's desperate spiritual condition." "Cry" is translated from 'ânaq, which literally means "to shriek" but is used of crying, groaning, or lamenting. These nearly identical sounding words mean much the same thing. The difference is that sighing is inward, while crying is an outward expressing of our inner grief. Are we saddened to see what has become of our country and its people? Do we "cry out" against the ravages of sin among our family and friends? Or, sadly, have we become inured to it, calloused by constant contact with it, or even apathetic about it? If Ezekiel 9 is any indication, it is time to let God know where we stand.
Richard T. Ritenbaugh
Inured, Calloused, Apathetic
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Matthew 5:4
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus lays out before us the foundational attitudes and conduct He commands and looks for in His disciples. He says in Matthew 5:4, "Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted." Human nature hates mourning. If given any choice at all, we shrink from mourning as rapidly as we can. Yet, Jesus says that those of His disciples who mourn are blessed! This begs the question, "If they are blessed, why do they mourn?" Surely, this is an anomaly that the unconverted find hard to believe. One thing is certain: Jesus does not speak here of every kind of mourning. Scripture shows us three kinds of mourning. Millions, indeed billions, mourn over dashed hopes like financial reverses, failure to land a job, rejection by a highly respected person, or the loss of a loved one. Many of these people may actually be under God's condemnation without any promise that they will be comforted. In addition, there is sinful mourning—like the hopeless sorrow of Judas Iscariot—that is disconsolate and inordinate, that refuses to be comforted. Finally, there is godly sorrow, a spiritual mourning authored by God, which is the subject of Matthew 5:4. This mourning begins and then proceeds from a genuine conversion upon repentance after God calls us. It is the beginning of a real sense of sin and its disastrously evil effects. Many thousands confess that they are sinners, but how many have never mourned over this fact? How many of us have mourned like the woman of Luke 7:37-38, who washed Jesus' feet with her tears? The publican in Luke 18:13 smote upon his breast, crying out, "God be merciful to me a sinner!" He did this because he felt the plague of his own evil heart. On that great day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit was given and Peter preached a truly inspiring sermon, Acts 2:37 tells us that the people were "cut to the heart" and said, "Men and brethren, what shall we do?" This mourning springs from a sense of sin combined with a tender conscience and a heart broken over the cost to receive forgiveness. This mourning springs from the agonizing realization that my sins nailed Jesus to the stake. Zechariah 12:10 prophesies, "Then they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn." By no means is this mourning confined to our initial contrition. It should be a present and continuous experience as we grow in understanding that we can say with Paul, "Oh wretched man that I am!" (Romans 7:24). He was undoubtedly at times acutely aware of the swellings of his pride, the coldness of his love, or the lack of fruit. In the same way, we, too, groan at times within ourselves as the sharpness of our memories chasten us as we meditate on the course of our lives. As we approach Passover, now is a time for deep introspection. We must do this, beginning with a profound appreciation for the sacrifice of our Savior, so that we may receive God's gracious promise to be comforted.
John W. Ritenbaugh
A Man of Sorrows
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Romans 8:23
In a related verse, Paul also includes us in his thought, "For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven" (II Corinthians 5:2). These verses not only reflect the joy of what lies before us but also the sorrow of living each day with the burden of the world, our flesh, and our mind that so easily lead us into sins we have no desire to commit. In our godly sorrow, we never want to fall short of God's glory or to bring shame upon His name. We want to honor Him by our every thought, word, and deed. When we turn aside in some way—no matter how small it may seem to others—we bear an internal burden of sorrow that we wish we did not have, kicking and asking ourselves why we did such a stupid thing! It is an emotional price we must pay because we love Him.
John W. Ritenbaugh
The Beatitudes, Part Three: Mourning
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