SETTING THE PACE / Living life with an eternal perspective
Psalms 126:1-6 says, “When the Lord brought back the captive ones of Zion, We were like those who dream. Then our mouth was filled with laughter and our tongue with joyful shouting; Then they said among the nations, ‘The Lord has done great things for them.’ The Lord has done great things for us; We are glad. Restore our captivity, O Lord, as the streams in the south. Those who sow in tears shall reap with joyful shouting. He who goes to and fro weeping, carrying his bag of seed, Shall indeed come again with a shout of joy, bringing his sheaves with him.”
As you read this Psalm, did you happen to notice the contrast? “Those who SOW in tears will REAP with shouts of joy.” The Psalm writer rejoices in God’s deliverance from captivity with a greater joy than he could have ever experienced had there been no captivity.
Author Randy Alcorn says, “This is the nature of true joy — it is always greater and deeper for those who have known real sorrow.”
This has been such a difficult truth for me to learn and accept. Over the years, I have learned and continue to learn what I just wrote above; joy is deeper and greater for those who have trusted and continue to trust God in and through their suffering. True joy is based on the presence of God in all circumstances of life, nothing else. But, that does not mean we will not still grieve.
Believe it or not, deep grief and deep joy can co-exist. Coming to this realization has been very freeing for me. Alcorn says, “This is why we should not be surprised when God allows us to undergo sorrows that will forever deepen and broaden our worship of Him and our experience of eternal joy.” Trusting in Christ does not mean we suffer less. Rather, trusting in Christ allows us to be able to face and endure with God’s strength what He allows into our lives.
Alcorn tells a story of a woman named Nancy Guthrie who had a disabled daughter who died after living through 199 days of seizures and other complications.
Nancy wrote this: “The day after we buried our daughter, my husband said to me, ‘You know, I think we expected our faith to make this hurt less, but it doesn’t.’ Our faith gave us an incredible amount of strength and encouragement while we had our daughter, Hope, and we are comforted by the knowledge that she is in heaven. Our faith keeps us from being swallowed by despair, but I don’t think it makes our loss hurt any less.”
Alcorn says, “Nancy and her husband’s pain did not decrease because they believed; rather, their faith kept their pain from incapacitating them. For Nancy and her husband, God stood with them in their pain, but He did not remove it.”
I can relate to what Nancy says. After my seven-year-old son Trey passed away, I felt a part of me died. Never in my life had I experienced such sadness and despair. As the Apostle Paul said, “I was crushed, but not destroyed.” My faith in God was the only thing that kept me moving. As stated above, “Faith keeps us from being swallowed by despair.” My faith was being tested and continues to be tested, but it has never been more real. Why? Because I have and continue to learn what it means to truly trust God. It is okay to grieve, and faith doesn’t eliminate grief, but faith does give you the ability to trust God in and through all things. This kind of real faith, in the midst of real grief, brings a real joy!
Alcorn says, “We dare not wait for a time of crisis to learn how to worship God. The Guthries worshipped God in crisis because they worshipped God before the crisis. Trusting in God’s sovereignty and goodness now will sustain us when suffering comes later.” We must learn to worship God now, for that is the only way to ensure we will continue to worship Him when trials come our way. Our God is worthy of all worship — worship Him today! See you next week.
