Dearly Beloved in Christ,
Greetings to you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ!
Men engrossed in worries and living in tears is a common sight everywhere. They have questions as to why they should live. Some resort to suicides. At such times of depression, Satan sows seeds to entice them to commit suicide. To such people, the Bible is a source of joy at heart. It comforts, encourages the broken-hearted and is helpful in restoring them. These words are spirit and life to give them hope of real joy. Psalm 88:3 tells us that when the soul is full of troubles, life draws near to the grave. In John 16:20, Jesus Christ assures, “. . . but your sorrow will be turned into joy.”
I. Consequence of Sorrow
1) Body and Soul Affected
“...My eye wastes away with grief, Yes, my soul and my body!” (Psalm 31:9).
Grief affects both the body and the soul. They are in a state of uselessness. The body loses its strength; the soul is also immobilised. Life in this state is full of anguish. Once I was asked to pray for a sister. It was said that she refused to take food. She drank only liquids. So they gave her nutritious diet in liquid form. She had lost much weight. She was laid up in bed. The grief that she had at heart had crippled her.
Today we do find people suffering on their beds doing nothing but pondering over the reasons for their grief. In the case of some such people, it makes them appear to be mentally affected.
2) Spirit Broken
“...but by sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken.” (Proverb 15:13)
The spirit gets broken because of sorrow. They seem to be mentally disturbed. The depression in them decapacitates them into a decrepit state. They would not be able to perform even their routine work or pursue their studies. All their potentials, wisdom and talents are put to disuse. In my youth there was a young man who sang well. He was affected by some mental disorder making him laugh at times and sing at other times. Sometimes he was angry at others at home. The broken spirit rendered his life pitiable. There was no peace in him or around him. He became a burden to others. He died young. The life of parents induces grief in children leading to broken spirit. They lose their mental balance, and do not know what they do. They do things that normally they won’t do. In this state they hear someone talking to them. They are driven by fear and can do nothing. They lose their jobs and keep switching jobs.
3) Death Oriented
”... but the sorrow of the world produces death.” (2 Corinthians 7:10)
Worldly sorrows are death bound. Misplaced desires direct the soul to end life. In the place where we played there was a person who can compose worldly songs and sing. The people around him would sit and gossip for hours together. He began to love a girl who lived in the house opposite to his. The girl’s parents arranged her marriage with another boy. On the very day of marriage the sorrow in him made him commit suicide. Many are thus misled in life with wrong hopes and desires.
Even believers are led astray due to certain unsound doctrines and are subject to mundane lusts. Once I saw a pastor of a church going around a school three times at night every day. When I asked him why he did that, he showed me the book of a man of God which taught so. He needed the place where the school was for extending his church. Let us not submit to such wrong teachings. The Word of God says that we should not lust after the properties of others. But he was led to do that as some had even prophesied about that property. I told him that he would never get that property, but was only spoiling his life in bitterness. He died later due to some sickness.
Today vision of worldly desires hampers the lives of several people as they believe them. They say that it was told by God, but God failed to fulfil His promise. Naturally they back slide. Let us strive for spiritual blessings and not desire worldly possession. We will be blessed.
II Reasons for Sorrow
1) Sin
“Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has contentions? Who has complaints? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes? Those who linger long at the wine, those who go in search of mixed wine” (Proverbs 23:29-30)
Today the habit of drinking liquor has spoiled the lives of many persons depriving them of peace and health. They roam about in sorrows. This evil habit has made them lose their exalted jobs and they go about borrowing small amounts of money from their known friends and relatives for drinking. In my college days, I knew a player who had the potential to play for the nation, but due to the evil habit of drinking lost his standing. He had a chance to serve in a big firm as a coach. He served there for some time. But that habit made him impossible to stick to it too. The whole family was affected and were grieved. His life too ended in disaster.
Today many have spoiled their lives because of drinking. They develop bodily illness and make their lives bitter. Many serving in reputed Information Technology companies submit themselves to it as they have weekly or monthly parties where liquor is served. They are enslaved in it and are thus subjected to grief and untold miseries.
2) Shortcoming and Shortages
“Because you have forgotten the God of your salvation, and have not been mindful of the Rock of your stronghold, therefore you will plant pleasant plants and set out foreign seedlings; In the day you will make your plant to grow, and in the morning you will make your seed to flourish; but the harvest will be a heap of ruins in the day of grief and desperate sorrow.” (Isaiah 17:10-11).
Man tends to forget his creator and trust in his own abilities. Many laud their potentials. But on the day of harvests, they bring home nothing great. This makes their lives bitter.
In my youth, I ran a sports shop with a help of another person in the name of Victory Sports Shop. Daily it was a busy business centre. People came in large numbers to buy sports goods. Schools and colleges gave large orders. That was the time I had not accepted the Lord Jesus Christ in my life. It was a life of no prayer. A terrible disease attacked me. Then I accepted the Lord as my redeemer and committed my life to Him. Then I wanted to leave that shop. When the accounts were seen, there was not much profit. All my labours were in vain.
3) Loss
“So they sat down with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his grief was very great.” (Job 2:13)
Job suffered great loss – the loss of all his wealth, the death of all his children and the loss of his health too. Further the words of his wife hurt him much. She exhorted him to curse God and end his life. He was seated on ash with sackcloth in grief. His friends saw him in great grief and did not open their mouths. They were with him for seven days. Satan had been given permission to work evils on him. Job was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil. Yet God gave permission to Satan to touch him. He removed the hedge around him. He lost everything. Grief griped him. In our lives also, grief is multiplied by the works of the devil.
4) News of Annihilation
“And in every province where the king’s command and decree arrived, there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting, weeping, and wailing; and many lay in sackcloth and ashes.” (Esther 4:3)
Haman the Agagite hated Mordecai. He did not want to kill Mordecai alone but destroy the entire Jewish race. So using his authority and closeness to the king, he got the king’s permission to do so in one day on the 13th of the 12th month, Adar. The order was sent to the length and breadth of the land. The Jews were filled with terror. There was lamentation and bitterness in all the Jews. When we have a bad news against us to take away our rights and possessions, how much we feel grieved?
In the beginning of my ministry, I used to visit the prisoners in Trichy Central Jail on Sundays on behalf of the YMCA to teach them from the Bible for their social transformation. Then I used to meet those who were to be hanged. They were griped in fear and grief and would wail and lament. We would not be given permission to meet them. They were sorely oppressed when the day of death approached. So also were the Jews sorely affected when the day was fixed for their annihilation.
Dear Brother/ Sister, a day of judgement for our sins and evil acts is waiting for us all. It will be a day of disaster to those who have no hope in Jesus Christ.
III What should be done to end Sorrow?
1. Acknowledge the Lord as Eternal Light
“... for the Lord will be your everlasting light, and the days of your mourning shall be ended.” (Isaiah 60:20).
Original man created in the image of God lost his very image as he trespassed and ate the fruit of the forbidden tree. One who was girded in light came under darkness. Life became bitter and anguish multiplied. But the Lord God loved us and sent the Lord Jesus Christ to redeem us and to transform us into the lost image of God. Whoever wants to follow Him would have the light of life. They will be light unto this world. All those who look up to the loving Jesus Christ would have this light in their lives. They would have a life with no shame or worry. He transforms those who live in darkness by making them children of light to serve Him as priests and as His own people. They would have the eternal light in them and would have a life with no grief. Let us inherit such a life in Jesus Christ.
2. Pray
“And Jabez called on the God of Israel saying, “Oh, that You would bless me indeed, and enlarge my territory, that Your hand would be with me, and that You would keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain!” So God granted him what he requested.” (1 Chronicles 4:10).
Jabez was so named by his mother as she bore her in grief. This Jabez prayed in the presence of God. He had the desire in his heart to extend the boundaries of his inhabitation. When we live pleasing the Lord, He would do so. He prayed for the enlargement of his territory and requested God to keep him away from evil. The Lord heard his prayer and granted his request that no evil would befall him. He thus guarded him.
The same desire for enlargement of territory and for a peaceful life with no evil happenings is there in the lives of many people. Not only do they desire it, but also work hard towards that. But hurdles and obstacles stand in the way.
A man built a huge multi-storeyed building with more than 100 houses near our house. One who dwelt in it gave a petition to the Corporation saying that there was trespassing in the measurement of the building. The municipal staff who measured it found that the regularisation and norms have not been followed in the construction and recommended its demolition. A notice was sent to the man. It was then ordered to be demolished by the Supreme Court. It was the intention of the builder to enlarge his territory. But his imagination was also demolished. He had to repay several crores of rupees to those who lend him money.
3) Victory over the Enemy
“to establish among them that they should celebrate yearly the fourteenth and fifteenth days of the month of Adar, as the days on which the Jews had rest from their enemies, as the month which was turned from sorrow to joy for them, and from mourning to a holiday...” (Esther 9:21,22).
Mordecai used his uncle’s daughter, Esther, to defeat the purpose of Haman and to kill him and his family through prayer. Fasting prayer in Christ becomes important. When Jesus spoke to his disciples about casting out certain kinds of devils, He insisted on fasting and prayer (Mark 9:29). Thus in the case of Haman also it was needed. Through that, they had victory over their enemy. The Lord saved the Jews from destruction. Their sorrow became rejoicing.
4) Come to the Lord
“Therefore they shall come and sing in the height of Zion, streaming to the goodness of the Lord—
For wheat and new wine and oil, for the young of the flock and the herd; Their souls shall be like a well-watered garden, and they shall sorrow no more at all.“Then shall the virgin rejoice in the dance,and the young men and the old, together; For I will turn their mourning to joy, will comfort them,and make them rejoice rather than sorrow.” (Jeremiah 31:12-13)
To receive blessing from the presence of the Lord, we should come to Him. Our Lord does good to us in many ways. Psalm 31:20 says, “You shall hide them in the secret place of Your presence From the plots of man; You shall keep them secretly in a pavilion From the strife of tongues.” Acts 10:38 speaks about the goodness of healing from Jesus Christ.
You should come to Him to received His goodness in full measure. Wheat is the Word of the Lord, oil refers to the anointing, and the wine to the gifts of the Holy Spirit. The flock and the herd denote worldly blessings. Those who come to Him will be blessed spiritually and physically. Their souls shall be gladdened and refreshed as a well-watered garden. Their mourning will be turned to joy and sorrows to rejoicing.
Today if you come to the Lord Jesus Christ, you will be filled with all sorts of blessings and your sorrows will be wiped out and replaced by rejoicing. Thus you will be blessed with peace and joy.
May the Lord bless us so!
In the service of Christ Jesus,
Bro. C. Ebenezer Paul.