The Importance Place of Sorrow in the Life of a Christian

I believe that we have mistaken joy for happiness. 

What I mean by this is that we know the Scriptures call us to give thanks and to have joy in all circumstances.  These are clear statements.  And so we have assumed that we need to be happy at all times.  We pretend each Sunday morning that there are things that do not bother us that really grate at our souls.  We endure hardship and feel guilt because we are not going through our day with a smile.  We have mistaken happiness and assumed that God has called us to happiness in every moment and every circumstance. 

The Scriptures do certainly teach that we are to have joy and to give thanks.  But the same Scriptures also contain a book called Lamentations.  They contain a whole group of psalms that are known as the psalms of lament.  There are multiple examples of God's chosen leaders crying out to him in their pain and despair and agony and fear and God does not condemn them for doing so.  It would seem to me that when we look at the whole of Scriptures that there is the ability for a believer to both lament their situation and praise and thank their God for the very same situation they are lamenting. 

Which is why I think we need a better understanding of the place of sorrow in the life of a believer.  When people die well before they should, when illness takes someone we love, when pain is a part of the daily life of a person, when an infant dies we need to know that this is not the way it is supposed to be and God tells us so.  We can lament illness and pain and grief and hurt.  These things are not a part of the world as God created it. 

In fact, I think we need to have more godly lamentation.  We need to lament the things that are not as God intended.  If we just put on a happy face we are doing disservice to Christ who came to die to make the wrong things right again.  So cry out in the midst of things that are wrong and unfair.  And in our grief and sorrow we will find our praise all the more meaningful.

The Joy of Jericho

We are studying the book of Joshua in our SS class each Sunday morning (at 9:45 AM if you want to come!)  As we read the last couple of weeks, we noticed how joyous and amazing the story of Jericho is.  In truth, we spend a lot of time talking about Joshua.  We started learning the story back when we were kids in Sunday School.  We sang songs about Joshua and the "battle" of Jericho.  We know the walls come down from walking around and the people go in.

I think that there is still much we can learn and appreciate from the story of Jericho, even as adults.  But the chapter that immediately follows we often overlook.  We talk and think about Jericho but think that is where the story ends.  We forget that in the narrative of Jericho God records a command that is disobeyed.  One man ignores the commands of God and a whole nation feels the brunt of the punishment of sin.  God simply removes his presence from being with His people.  He cannot stand sin and the sin of Achan was an affront to His holiness and could not be tolerated.  It was more than just taking something that he should not have taken, he stole something from God Himself.  And so God withholds his presence.

This translates into losing a battle against a small town that had only a few people to defend it.  The contrast as Joshua records it is stunning.  Win when impossible, lose when you don't need much help and the point that it makes is that it is not about the size of the obstacle at all, but the power of God being with you or not dependent upon obedience.  God is immensely powerful and promises His power and presence for those who follow Him.  But when we do our own thing and decide we do not need God, God simply allows us the freedom to do things our own way, without His power and presence and often the results are disastrous.  God tells us to put our spouse first.  When we do this we are blessed and can see His good results.  When we put ourselves first we usually wind up fighting!  God tells us to grow the church through the personal sharing of the gospel.  When we think it is the pastor and deacons job to grow the church God simply allows us our choice and we move forward without the power and presence of God!  This leads to stagnant churches and hollow Christianity at home.  I could go on and on.  Do you want the power and presence of God to be active in your life?   Of course we all do.  But we often forget that we see the power and presence of God when we choose to obey and follow his path for our lives.  Sometimes we need to stop telling God things and listen instead. 

Will you listen?