Going through sadness - by Ben Bonython
Sadness is defined as the condition or quality of being sad. We all face sadness, sometimes in the present, other times from the past and even thinking about the future. So what does the bible say about sadness?
Firstly, sadness is not of God. Gen3:1 teaches us that sadness emerges from the lies and accusations of the enemy. At the heart of sadness is a lie, a false truth. Gen3:16-19 reminds us that sadness is a reality in this world and our lives because of sin. However we need to be convinced that sin and sadness have been overcome.
Secondly, Paul writes in 1 Cor 15:56-57: For sin is the sting that results in death, and the law gives sin its power. But thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus. It is important to note that victory over death is victory over the end result of sin, which is death. But there is also victory of its sting, which is sin, as Paul writes in 1 Cor 15:55: “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?”
Thirdly, Paul gives a reason for sadness in Romans 8:20-21: …Against its will, all creation was subjected to God’s curse. But with eager hope, the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay. The point here is that the sting of sin remains permitted to have its effect, but it does not have its victory. A sting hurts – think about a bee sting, a wasp or scorpion. And in the same way, while the sting still hurts, those who are in Christ avoid its death. Paul outlines for us in Rom 8:18-25 that sadness continues to this day because all of creation is cursed, facing and death and decay, describing it like birth pains. (Note the reflection here back to Gen 3:16). Therefore for the Christian, it is unreasonable and unwise to ignore sadness.
Fourthly, the reality of sadness must sit alongside faith. It is faith to believe that the sadness we face, while real, is nothing compared to the glory of God that is to come (Rom 8:18). And it faith to believe that this sadness we face only endures for a time (Rom 8:23), until His return. It requires faith to believe that sadness has nothing to do with the victory and love of Jesus for us (Roms 8:35). And it requires faith that sadness and its reason I face will have no hold over me (Rom 38-39). It requires faith to trust that the sadness and sting we suffer is for His sake, and not our own (Rom 8:36). Faith matters!
Therefore, fifthly, this requires of lot of faith, the sort of faith that we can share with another. Sadness is not something to just internalise, but we ought to share it in order to allow others to help carry it (Gal 6:2) together to the Lord in prayer (Rom 12:12). We are called to mourn with those who mourn. (Romans 12:15) Jesus wept when he heard Lazarus had died, and he saw others weeping (John 11:35), and so must we!
Sixthly, it is so important to remember that Jesus knows sadness/sorrow and carried it to the cross. Jesus is that friend who understands, really understands and is with us, present in our sadness. There is an old hymn that teaches us about a friend we have:
What a friend we have in Jesus, All our sins and grieves to bear. What a privilege it is to carry, Everything to God in prayer. Have we trials and temptations. Is there trouble anywhere. Our precious Saviour, He is still our refuge, Take it to the Lord in prayer. Some things we have not because we ask not, When we have a friend who's there. When we're weak and heavy laden, Cumbered with a load of care. We should never be discouraged, When we take it to the Lord in prayer. Oh what peace we often forfeit, Oh what needless pain we bear.
Seventhly, sadness without faith produces worldly sorrow. Paul says that worldly sorrow leads to death (2 Cor 7:9-10). Worldly sorrow lacks humility, and such sorrow becomes selfish and idolatrous taking the place of joy in our hearts, that is the Lord. Worldly sorrow therefore gives no place for joy.
Eighthly, we need to trust that the joy of the Lord encourages (2 Cor 7:7-8). And it is the joy of the Lord that is our strength (Neh 8:10) to endure sadness in a godly way. It is from this joy in the salvation of the Lord that the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness (Rom 8:26) allowing us to know what to pray for when we do not know what or how to pray. This joy is from something we can’t yet see but we can believe it is in our future. It is the hope we have for our future with God in heaven, this joy that is from the hope of our salvation (Rom 8:23-25).
Finally, in sadness, share it with another who will help you to focus on Jesus. And share your sadness with Christ, that you might receive His joy so that our sadness might be tempered, even enveloped by the joy we have in the Lord.