Today's world
doesn't deal well with sorrow. Deep, heartfelt grief is socially awkward to
deal with. After CS Lewis' wife Joy died
he wrote of how people he knew would cross the street to avoid having to talk
to him. It wasn't that they didn't care, but they didn't know what to say.
But sorrow is
part of our human experience. Most of us will know it at some time, whether
it's due to bereavement, abandonment or failure. We shouldn't pretend it
doesn't exist or that it won't happen to us, and we shouldn't imagine we will
escape just because we're Christians. But the Bible gives us an assurance that
sorrow need not defeat us. It doesn't have to rule our whole lives. There is a
way through it and the hope of joy on the other side.
Bible verses
about sorrow range from the heartfelt personal cries of the Psalms to the grief
over Israel expressed by Jeremiah, the "weeping prophet". But even
Jeremiah expresses his hope and trust that God will bring joy. Jesus speaks of
his own sorrow in Gethsemane. Paul speaks remaining undefeated by sorrow, and its role in bringing us closer to
God.
No one chooses
sorrow. But God never abandons us in it, no matter how alone we may sometimes
feel.
1. Be merciful to
me, Lord, for I am in distress; my eyes grow weak with sorrow, my soul and body
with grief (Psalm 31:9).
2. Our days may
come to seventy years, or eighty, if our strength endures; yet the best of them
are but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away (Psalm
90:10).
3. My soul is
weary with sorrow; strengthen me according to your word (Psalm 119:28).
4. Those the Lord
has rescued will return. They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy
will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing
will flee away (Isaiah 51:11).
5. Your sun will
never set again, and your moon will wane no more; the Lord will be your
everlasting light, and your days of sorrow will end (Isaiah 60:20).
6. Why did I ever
come out of the womb to see trouble and sorrow and to end my days in shame?
(Jeremiah 20:18).
7. Then young
women will dance and be glad, young men and old as well. I will turn their
mourning into gladness; I will give them comfort and joy instead of sorrow
(Jeremiah 31:13).
8. "My soul
is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death," he said to them.
"Stay here and keep watch" (Mark 14:34).
9. Rather, as servants of God we commend ourselves in
every way: in great endurance; in troubles, hardships and distresses; in
beatings, imprisonments and riots...dying, and yet we live on; beaten, and yet
not killed; sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having
nothing, and yet possessing everything (2 Corinthians 6: 4-10).
10. Godly sorrow
brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly
sorrow brings death (2 Corinthians 7:10).
No comments:
Post a Comment