"The Right of Life"

"O continue Thy lovingkindness unto them that know Thee; and Thy righteousness to the upright in heart." (Psalms 36:10) If God is a God of love, then why do so many good people have to suffer so much pain? I am sure you have heard something like that before; but have you ever tried to answer it? or do you shrug your shoulders and just say, I don't really understand it myself? The shortest verse in the Bible can help us to understand God's heart in this matter; and in case you are unaware what verse that is, it is found at John 11:35, and it simply says, "JESUS WEPT." In the context of the portion of Scripture that this verse is found, there were people gathered around Mary, the sister of Lazarus who was dead, while she was kneeling at the feet of Jesus and crying, they too were crying with her, and it says, "When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled." After this Jesus asked them where they had laid Lazarus, and as they were showing Him where he was, it was then that Jesus wept. Many that were there, when they saw Jesus heading towards where Lazarus was, and weeping, said, "Behold how he loved him!", as if to say that Jesus was weeping because Lazarus was dead; this could not be further from the truth, because Jesus was about to raise him from the dead. In contrast with our fallen state and that which will be in glory, this is hell; although it does not have the flames of torment, and the eternal groaning of remorse, this place we call home for a short while is filled with sickness and death all around us; everyone is counting days, and watching loved ones passing one by one. This is not what God wanted, nor is it what shall be; but what it is, is the result of sin, and it is death; and death is always associated with darkness. Jesus was not weeping for the death of Lazarus, He was weeping for the condition of this fallen world, and for all the pain and suffering associated with it. This really is a big deal to God, and He has made it known to us how He will have it to be in heaven. With that, there is something else that could have caused Jesus to weep, and it could have been what shall be compared to what is; and in that case, it was tears of joy that He wept; as a matter of fact, there is another verse that some speculate to be the smallest verse in the Bible, depending on whether you read the original Greek wording or the translated text, and that other verse is found in 1 Thessalonians 5:16... "REJOICE EVERMORE."