If you have children, you’ve undoubtedly found yourself at some point comforting a tearful toddler or a worked up preteen with some version of the phrase, “There is nothing to cry about.” No doubt well-intentioned (and sometimes even effective), such words are not always as true as we would like them to be. Sometimes, it seems, there is actually a lot to cry about: pain, grief, sadness, and inexplicable suffering are a part of life no matter how young or old you are.

No one knows this better than our God, who, Isaiah tells us in chapter 30, not only hears our cries, but is gracious to answer them - even when we, through our rebellion and unbelief, are the very cause of them. And that’s not all.

Not only does God answer our cries, he makes a promise that those who belong to him shall one day dwell in Zion - the heavenly city - where “you shall weep no more” (v. 9). He is preparing a home for us where he doesn’t simply comfort us in sadness, but the root cause of any and all tears ceases to exist.

These are the words of promise the teacher, Isaiah, gives to the people of Judah as they face oppression from the Assyrians. But they are the words of promise for us as well, words which are sure because they have already been fulfilled through Christ who came to not just comfort our affliction, but to end it once and for all. These words, spoken then by the prophet Isaiah and repeated now for us, surround us, whispering, “This is the way, walk in it.” Christ came to be the way, gently ushering us forward with his promises until he comes again. His word reminds us that we are both in him while also daily walking ever closer to him. And very soon, we will dwell with him forever, where sin and tears are but a distant memory.