06/25/2025
How many times have we experienced sorrow in our lives? We are probably unable to count them. Sorrow is a fact of life and the result of caring, loving, and regret. However, God takes our sorrow and uses it for His own purposes, and if we are observant, we should see His hand there. In our sorrow God teaches us a great deal about Himself and elevates our faith.
“"Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? 'Father, save me from this hour'? But for this purpose I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name." Then a voice came from heaven: "I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again." The crowd that stood there and heard it said that it had thundered. Others said, "An angel has spoken to him." Jesus answered, "This voice has come for your sake, not mine.”
John 12:27-30 ESV
Jesus felt sorrow just as we do, but He didn't ask for relief, He asked that God glorify Himself in it. When we feel sorrowful our natural inclination is to ask the Lord to relieve us of it. We ask that the circumstances that have made us feel this way be reversed and that joy return to us. In fact, our joy will be replenished in God's good time, but first there is something He wishes to do through us, or in us. We should be more like Christ and know He is there. Jesus was confident when He said "This voice has come for your sake, not mine."
“For his anger is but for a moment, and his favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning.”
Psalms 30:5 ESV
Sorrow pains us, and we hurt inside. Our pain may not have an outward wound, but we are wounded nonetheless. In this regard sorrow and suffering are closely linked. In as much as Jesus didn't remove Himself from the suffering that Gods plan for Him contained, neither did he avoid sorrow. At the death of Lazarus we read this of Jesus...
“Jesus wept.”
John 11:35 ESV
Sorrow is a part of life and love, just as much as joy is. If there was no sorrow then life would be bland and shapeless indeed because there would be no gauge by which our joy could be measured. We only know joy by understanding sorrow... we only know righteousness and holiness by understanding sin and evil. If the only thing that was in our lives was joy then joy would be nothing more than normal to us; so God teaches us of joy through our sorrow, and he shows us the goodness and strength of holiness by letting us see the evil in the world.
When my grandmother Holyfield died I felt great sorrow. I would never again hear her voice saying "There's Granny's baby... I have pinto beans on the stove and cornbread in the oven!" And I would never again hug her tight with my face buried in her apron, or later, with her face in my chest as I grew and towered over her. But, in my sorrow I could tell you of her love and how much I loved her, and I can still feel her love today when I remember her because of the remnants of that sorrow. God uses sorrow to define our world, and to show us Himself as nothing else can.
When we are suffering through a season of sorrow and the Lord comforts us we feel His presence in a way that we could not feel Him otherwise. Why else would Jesus include these words in the beatitudes?
“"Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.”
Matthew 5:4 ESV
And why else would He compare sorrow and joy to a woman in childbirth?
“When a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come, but when she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world.”
John 16:21 ESV
Our sorrow feels like it will last forever, but it won't. Our sorrow also feels as though it is drawing the very life out of us, but it isn't… it is defining it. Joy will certainly return as the Lord heals our wounded spirit. Some say that "time heals all wounds", but, although the passage of time numbs us to the pain, only God through Jesus can heal us. Truly, our lessons in sorrow come from God.
“Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.”
Isaiah 53:4-5 ESV
Prayer:
Father, thank you for showing me the heights of joy by letting me experience the depths of sadness. Thank you for revealing your love through the sorrow that defines it. Holy Father, I trust that my sorrow will last but a night, and I have faith in your Word and hold fast to the promise that your joy will return in the morning just as I read in Psalm 5:30. Teach me all you would in this emotional darkness, but bring me quickly to the morrow; let my heart feel the sorrow in this night so that your joy can reveal itself fully in the morning. I praise you in the times when my happiness erupts and overflows my heart, but I am led to praising you as I should by my sorrow as it defines me. Increase me in my belief and faith Father because only you can draw the sting from my pain, only you can ease my suffering, and only you can comfort my sorrow. Praised be your name and Holy art thou my God of great joy, and wonderful is your Son Jesus… the man of great sorrow who you sent to redeem me. Merciful are you for the grace you pour out over me every day as you bless and comfort me. Thank you for loving me enough to show me your grace, your ability to forgive, and the depths of your peace, rest, and joy, all through the windows of my sorrow. In this way I have learned to seek my salvation all the more, and long for eternity in your presence with all my heart! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! You, my God and are great indeed, and your love snuffs out my sorrow with the blessed power of your breath... breathe on me now Father. Give me your joy in full measure and know that I love you with all my heart!
Amen! Amen! Amen!
“I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow!”
John 15:11 NLT
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.”
John 3:16-17 ESV
Rich Forbes