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Sorrow is better than laughter, because a sad face is good for the heart. Ecclesiastes 7:3 I never understood or liked this scripture until now. Sorrow is better than laughter? That sounds terrible and depressing and I was afraid of a God that would even say that! Until now......
This is an excerpt from my devotional that tells the lesson of sorrow:
Sorrow, under the power of divine grace, performs various ministries in our lives. Sorrow reveals unknown depths of the soul, and unknown capacities for suffering and service. Lighthearted and frivolous people are always shallow and are never aware of their own meagerness or lack of depth. Sorrow is God's tool to plow the depths of the soul, that it may yield richer harvests. If humankind were still in a glorified state, having never fallen, then the strong floods of divine joy would be the force God would use to reveal our soul's capacities. But in a fallen world, sorrow, yet with despair removed, is the power chosen to reveal us to ourselves. Accordingly, it is sorrow that causes us to take the time to think deeply and seriously.
Sorrow makes us move more slowly and considerately and examine our motives and attitudes. It opens within us the capacities of the heavenly life, and it makes us willing to set our capacities afloat on a limitless sea of service for God and for others. Imagine a village of lazy people living at the foot of a great mountain range, yet who have never ventured out to explore the valleys and canyons back in the mountains. One day a great thunderstorm goes careening through the mountains, turning the valleys into echoing trumpets and revealing their inner recesses, like the twisted shapes of a giant seashell. The villagers at the foot of the hills are astonished at the labyrinths and the unexplored recesses of a region so nearby and yet so unknown. And so it is with many people who casually live on the outer edge of their own souls, until great thunderstorms of sorrow reveal hidden depths within, which were never before known or suspected.
God never uses anyone to a great degree until He uses their trial to break them completely. Joseph experienced more sorrow than the other sons of Jacob, and it led him into a ministry of food for all nations! For this reason, the Holy Spirit said of him, "Joseph is a fruitful vine....near a spring, whose branches climb over a wall" (Genesis 49:22). It takes sorrow to expand and deepen the soul. (from the Heavenly Life)
Every person and every nation must endure lesson's in Gods school of adversity. In the same way we say, "Blessed is the night, for it reveals the stars to us," we can say, "Blessed is sorrow, for it reveals God's comfort." A flood once washed away a poor man's home and mill, taking with it everything he owned in the world. He stood at the scene of his great loss, brokenhearted and discouraged. Yet after the waters had subsided, he saw something shining in the riverbanks that the flood had washed bare. "It looks like gold," he said. And it was gold. The storm that had impoverished him made him rich. So it is oftentimes in life. Henry Clay Trumbull
Dear readers.....Sorrow is something beautiful and intimate, it is a place and time that is inevitable but it can be a meeting place for us to be comforted, taught and loved by our Savior on how to comfort and love others. Sorrow actually opens a precious and rare door to the supernatural world of God's immutable tenderness. We so often are too busy blaming Him for everything that makes us uncomfortable that we miss completely, the tender moments with God that sorrow enables. God does not cause tragedy..... He uses it.
The dark brown soil is turned by the sharp-pointed plow; and I've a lesson learned.
My life is but a field, stretched out beneath God's sky, some harvest rich to yield.
Where grows the golden grain? Where faith? Where sympathy? In a furrow cut by pain.
*Maltbie D. Babcock
STEPPINGSTONES by Helen Steiner-Rice
Think not that life has been unfair,
and given you too much to bear;
For God has chosen you because,
with all your weaknesses and flaws,
He feels that you are worthy of,
the greatness of His wondrous love.
Welcome every stumbling block,
and every thorn and jagged rock;
for each one is a stepping stone,
to a fuller life than we've ever known.
And in the radiance of God's smiles,
we learn to soar above life's trials.
And as we grow in strength and grace,
the clearer we can see God's face.
Helen Steiner-Rice
Just as a song needs slow, deep tones and crescendos and paintings need tonal values of dark and light, so does life........ joy and sorrow are companions and they are both part of the journey.
"Dear friends," (says the Apostle Peter), "do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when His glory is revealed." 1 Peter 4:12,13
| Joy and Sorrow |
Sorrow is better than laughter, because a sad face is good for the heart. Ecclesiastes 7:3 I never understood or liked this scripture until now. Sorrow is better than laughter? That sounds terrible and depressing and I was afraid of a God that would even say that! Until now......
This is an excerpt from my devotional that tells the lesson of sorrow:
Sorrow, under the power of divine grace, performs various ministries in our lives. Sorrow reveals unknown depths of the soul, and unknown capacities for suffering and service. Lighthearted and frivolous people are always shallow and are never aware of their own meagerness or lack of depth. Sorrow is God's tool to plow the depths of the soul, that it may yield richer harvests. If humankind were still in a glorified state, having never fallen, then the strong floods of divine joy would be the force God would use to reveal our soul's capacities. But in a fallen world, sorrow, yet with despair removed, is the power chosen to reveal us to ourselves. Accordingly, it is sorrow that causes us to take the time to think deeply and seriously.
Sorrow makes us move more slowly and considerately and examine our motives and attitudes. It opens within us the capacities of the heavenly life, and it makes us willing to set our capacities afloat on a limitless sea of service for God and for others. Imagine a village of lazy people living at the foot of a great mountain range, yet who have never ventured out to explore the valleys and canyons back in the mountains. One day a great thunderstorm goes careening through the mountains, turning the valleys into echoing trumpets and revealing their inner recesses, like the twisted shapes of a giant seashell. The villagers at the foot of the hills are astonished at the labyrinths and the unexplored recesses of a region so nearby and yet so unknown. And so it is with many people who casually live on the outer edge of their own souls, until great thunderstorms of sorrow reveal hidden depths within, which were never before known or suspected.
God never uses anyone to a great degree until He uses their trial to break them completely. Joseph experienced more sorrow than the other sons of Jacob, and it led him into a ministry of food for all nations! For this reason, the Holy Spirit said of him, "Joseph is a fruitful vine....near a spring, whose branches climb over a wall" (Genesis 49:22). It takes sorrow to expand and deepen the soul. (from the Heavenly Life)
Every person and every nation must endure lesson's in Gods school of adversity. In the same way we say, "Blessed is the night, for it reveals the stars to us," we can say, "Blessed is sorrow, for it reveals God's comfort." A flood once washed away a poor man's home and mill, taking with it everything he owned in the world. He stood at the scene of his great loss, brokenhearted and discouraged. Yet after the waters had subsided, he saw something shining in the riverbanks that the flood had washed bare. "It looks like gold," he said. And it was gold. The storm that had impoverished him made him rich. So it is oftentimes in life. Henry Clay Trumbull
| Joy and Sorrow are companions..... Joy needs Sorrow to feel deep, and Sorrow needs joy to feel hope. |
Dear readers.....Sorrow is something beautiful and intimate, it is a place and time that is inevitable but it can be a meeting place for us to be comforted, taught and loved by our Savior on how to comfort and love others. Sorrow actually opens a precious and rare door to the supernatural world of God's immutable tenderness. We so often are too busy blaming Him for everything that makes us uncomfortable that we miss completely, the tender moments with God that sorrow enables. God does not cause tragedy..... He uses it.
The dark brown soil is turned by the sharp-pointed plow; and I've a lesson learned.
My life is but a field, stretched out beneath God's sky, some harvest rich to yield.
Where grows the golden grain? Where faith? Where sympathy? In a furrow cut by pain.
*Maltbie D. Babcock
STEPPINGSTONES by Helen Steiner-Rice
Think not that life has been unfair,
and given you too much to bear;
For God has chosen you because,
with all your weaknesses and flaws,
He feels that you are worthy of,
the greatness of His wondrous love.
Welcome every stumbling block,
and every thorn and jagged rock;
for each one is a stepping stone,
to a fuller life than we've ever known.
And in the radiance of God's smiles,
we learn to soar above life's trials.
And as we grow in strength and grace,
the clearer we can see God's face.
Helen Steiner-Rice
Just as a song needs slow, deep tones and crescendos and paintings need tonal values of dark and light, so does life........ joy and sorrow are companions and they are both part of the journey.
"Dear friends," (says the Apostle Peter), "do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when His glory is revealed." 1 Peter 4:12,13
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