Sorrow Rides On The Shoulders Of Joy

Some things are capable of carrying tremendous loads. I have seen pictures of a massive ship called the Blue Marlin that is designed to carry disabled ships and other large ocean machines. Not rowboats, mind you, but huge ships like Navy Destroyers as well as oil rig platforms. Google it and be amazed.

When it comes to sorrows of the deepest kind, what is it that will carry the heavy load of tears and pain? The Scriptures teach that sorrows can only be carried by joy. Nehemiah tells us that “the joy of the Lord is your strength.” Let’s look at this idea in the Scripture and see two big lessons.

First, the idea of sorrow being borne along on the shoulders of joy assumes that both must exist at the same time. We read in Philippians 4:4, “Rejoice in the Lord always; again, I will say, rejoice!” This is a command that we must obey. But the only way this can be obeyed is if sorrow can co-exist with rejoicing. And it certainly does. We see that in the life of the two most prominent people in the New Testament: Jesus and Paul. Jesus obeyed this command as the happiest person in the universe. Yet, he wept over Lazarus (Jn. 11:35), cried over Jerusalem (Luke 19:41), and sighed over hard-heartedness (Mark 8:12). Paul said plainly that he and the other apostles were marked by being “sorrowful, yet always rejoicing.” (2 Cor. 6:10) Additionally, Peter mentions that his readers in 1 Peter 1:6are doing this when he said, “In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials.”

Both joy and sorrow must exist in some combination at all times in this age. Sometimes the combination will be dominated by such joy that your heart leaps within you. At other times, the combination will be dominated by a sorrow that feels like overwhelming darkness. Nevertheless, the combination must always be there. If not, you are in grave danger. If you have joy unmixed with sorrow, then you have so separated yourself from the hurting of others that you are no longer able to love your neighbor. Needs are unending in this life, so there will be no end of sorrow. Therefore, weep with those who weep, and share the reasons for joy with those whose eyes have been blinded by sorrow. On the other side, if you have sorrow unmixed with joy, either you have never known or have forgotten the massive realities of Scripture. And you are in danger of all kinds of grave sin such as roots of bitterness, murder, drug use, suicide, and more. The remedy to this problem is found in the next point below.

Second, theological knowledge alone won’t bear the weight of sorrow. Some have been going to church all their life, and yet when they come to a really dark period they wonder why God is not coming through for them. One fearful possibility for joylessness, and God seeming totally absent, is they never really rejoiced in all that God is and has done for them. Oh, they knew the stories and were fairly doctrinally sound. But the whole time they found their truest joy, their greatest purpose, their deepest satisfaction in whatever God-replacement they chose. They fell short of the glory of God, and they were fine with that until their world came crashing down. Jesus told his disciples in Luke 10:20 “Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are recorded in heaven.” If they had rejoiced in that ability, where would they have been when that ability faded away? They would have been with Judas on that hanging tree, metaphorically speaking. Judas loved money and the recognition that Jesus’ power brought him. But when that was being rejected by the world, Judas’ world came crashing down and his subsequent sin only sunk him deeper into the pit so that he finally killed himself. In similar fashion, when a “worldly” person’s world falls apart and there is no joy left, they sink into despair, mere existence, or even suicide.

Jesus said in Luke 6:23 regarding persecution, “Be glad in that day and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven.” Look at this call to joy. This isn’t a call to some mere intellectual understanding. A person is to love this reality at the core of his being. He believes it in his bones, even as they are being broken by persecution. It is only when a person rejoices in justification, takes joy in adoption, sings about propitiation, and writes poetry about sovereignty will they be able to carry the weight of sorrow.

Joy and sorrow will always be found together. But for the Christian, sorrow rides on the shoulders of joy. Joy is the deepest reality for the Christian because joy is rooted in unmovable, eternal, divinely guaranteed promises concerning the highest and most soul-satisfying glory. Sorrows will ride along, and even be used to accomplish certain goals. But they will not drive a Christian or overcome them in an ultimate way. No, there is another ultimate reality already in place in their life. The sturdy legs of that ultimate joy in Christ are pressing on to heaven.