John 16:1-6 “These things I have spoken to you, that you should not be made to stumble. They will put you out of the synagogues; yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service. And these things they will do to you because they have not known the Father nor Me. But these things I have told you, that when the time comes, you may remember that I told you of them. And these things I did not say to you at the beginning, because I was with you. But now I go away to Him who sent Me, and none of you asks Me, ‘Where are You going?’ But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart.”
A couple weeks ago, Pastor Kyle preached on Sunday that the place in our lives that feels dead, lifeless, hopeless and that nothing good is happening there, God tells us that our sorrows through the Lord Jesus Christ will turn into joy. Have you ever been in your life when sorrow so completely filled your heart that it felt there was nothing else left inside?
Psalm 73:26 “My flesh and my heart fail; but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”
There is bad and good news about sorrow for the Believer in Jesus Christ. The bad news is that God said that troubles, trials and tribulations will happen, and every person (believer and unbeliever) will go through it this side of eternity. Some things will happen which are so hard to deal with to us that we very well may be tempted to stumble, fall away and abandon our faith; walking away from God. Jesus would not be warning His disciples and us that bad things would be coming our way, unless they were coming and would them us to walk away. We cannot “beware” until we first “be aware”. We cannot be ignorant of the reality of life’s bad news in a sinful fallen world, but serves to set up life’s good news that turns sorrow into joy. John proclaims in John 16:33“These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” Jesus is saying, do not be surprised when they happen; remember that I told you that they would come.
There may be seasons where everything seems to “go south” on us, and sorrows in life may cause us to question God and His goodness, tempting us to abandon God temporarily, but God never abandons us. If someone moves in our relationship to the Lord, it isn’t God. God stays close to us. Sorrows in life (why do bad things happen?) is one of the main reasons why some never choose to believe in or accept their Maker, Almighty God. Every person will go through sorrows, and there will be future sorrows; a continuous force tempting to keep us away from the things of God. Do not give up on God, your faith, your church and your godly goals because there is sorrow in your life today. Sorrow is a constant reality of life this side of Heaven. We all go through it.
Romans 8:28 “We know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.”
There is always something suffering and chaotic in this fallen world, but always somethings new that God is bringing to life with love and peace. Not if sorrows happen, but when they happen, Jesus told us they would. Jesus continues to tell us so. The Christian church frequently talks about the promises of God in the Bible, but can unintentionally convey the notion that life is perpetually getting better and improving all the time for Christians. In reality, on this side of glory, life can become really, really hard or earth-shatteringly painful sometimes. It is unbiblical and an unrealistic expectation to think that Christians are exempt from trials and tribulations walking through this life because we have God in our lives. This world is neither the Garden of Eden or Heaven.
Philippians 3:20 tells us, “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ”. Bad things happen and sorrows are a constant in the lives of Believers. We do not move on from that reality completely, but we learn to move forward. There is a supernatural protection and providence of God over His people. There are times in our lives that we all have seen God’s hand moving, but there are many bad sorrowful things that God did not allow to reach us that we never see also. But, the Bible doesn’t offer a guarantee of exemption from sorrow.
As obedient children of God, we do not know the over-arching plan of our heavenly Father and see how He is supernaturally working everything together for ultimate good, but we trust that God is in control and doing just that. Jesus never said that we would never have troubles and sorrow, but that if we would trust Him, He would take our sorrows and turn them into joy; and we can have peace in Him. Thank God that Heaven is our true home. We are just passing through, but have been put here by God for a purpose while we are here.
Let’s continue Pastor Kyle’s message on “turning sorrow into joy” in the next post.
In Christ, Brian
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