“Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy. 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. So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.” John 16:20-22
Devotional Thought For The Day
Most of the New Testament references to “rejoicing” come in a context of suffering and sorrow. There is encouragement to rejoice in the good things that God has provided for us, and how can we not rejoice in His gracious mercy, forgiveness, and love, in His free gift of salvation and eternal life? Yet there is also a great deal of labor, weeping, and lamenting that occurs in our lives in this world. So the analogy of Jesus is quite apt, that we will have sorrows and struggles in this life but will rejoice when we see Jesus face to face. And as He promises, this is a joy that no one will be able to take from us.
Jesus speaks of the world rejoicing at the very things that make His disciples sorrowful. This means that we are by “Christian nature” counter-cultural, odd and strange to the worldlings around us. They are eager for joy and rejoicing, in fact, they live for joy and rejoicing in the rather paltry and temporal things of this world. But so long as there is some excitement and thrill they are satisfied, and willing to curse their way through the work week to get to the party. And this is what gives them joy – not to know God and His love, but to be entertained and pleasured. But this temporal, earthly, and godless joy will turn to ashes and sorrow when Jesus comes again.
So how much rejoicing and how much sorrow are we supposed to have as we go through life in this world? The sorrows we have no control over; they will come to us and into our awareness as they will, and we can only endure them as a woman endures childbirth. I’m talking about the evils in the world in general and the evils and inequities that we experience personally. But we can have some input as to the amount of joy and rejoicing we experience. We can set our hearts and minds on the things of God, and on the good things of earthly life, God’s prevailing love in all areas of our life and being. We can be joyful about what is coming when we see Jesus face to face. I’m certain that the Lord wills for us to have joy rather than living constantly in morbid sorrow, especially when our joys are in Him rather than in sinful pleasures [including pride, and the arrogance of over-confidence in ourselves]. So let us take care not to make sorrow some kind of self-righteous virtue, but rather make sure that we find joyful things in God’s love and presence.
So there is to be balance in our lives as Christians. We are joyful but not ignorantly giddy about worldly things; we are joyful about the Lord, His love and His blessings and His promises. We are also sorrowful about all that is wrong in this world – our own sin, the sin and evil of others, and the world’s stubborn insistence on rebellion against the Lord and His Christ. But ultimately God’s love conquers all evil, washing away our sin and guilt, and in the end removing all evil from His presence. In the meantime, Jesus describes our sorrows as those of labor, and often it feels just this way. But joy is coming, a superlative joy in God’s goodness and love, and as Jesus promised, this joy will never be taken from us. It is surely worth persevering and waiting patiently for this joy!
Prayer For The Day
Dear Lord Jesus, we also find many things which bring us pleasure and joy in this world. Help us not to set our hearts and minds on these things, lest they blind us and anesthetize us and we fail to see the grievous evils of sin. May our greatest joys always be Your love and salvation, that temporal joys be reduced in importance, and our grief over the evils in this world be real and genuine. Grant us a good and godly balance of sorrow and joy as we pass through our sojourn in this world. Amen.