Sandy’s Devotional:
Very truly I tell you, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy. A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born, she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world. So with you: Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy. John 16:20-22
“You have turned my mourning into joyful dancing. You have taken away my clothes of mourning and clothed me with joy...” Psalm 30:11
To provide for those who grieve in Zion — to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, a mantle of praise instead of a spirit of despair.”
Isaiah 61:3
Those who sow with tears will reap with songs of joy. Those who go out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with them. Psalm 126:5,6
God’s work is not to improve on our situation – but to turn the sadness and sorrow into JOY. In the case of a mother in labor, the sorrow directly turns to joy when she holds her baby in her arms. Sometimes, the result of joy is less obvious when we suffer pain, but we know that God’s ultimate goal is to meld us into His image, to bring us closer to His love, to make us a holy people.
I often quote Charles Spurgeon because his words are so deep and penetrating. He was a man who knew sickness and depression, yet grew closer and closer to God:
“I, too, know such a thing as that, that pain can come upon you and grace can come with the pain, so that you feel thankful for it. I have heard saints of God say that they have had great losses, but that the love of God has flowed into their soul so that their losses they have reckoned to be their gains. We have heard of one that said, “Let me go back to my bed again; let me go to my pain again, for I had so much of Christ there that I would fain rather be always sick than lose the sickness and lose the love of my Lord.” Yes, beloved, He can, at this moment, turn your sorrows into joys. If you have a great lump of sorrow, you will have a great lump of joy, for He turns it all into joy. One touch of His finger can turn the granite stones into gold; bring them to His feet; ask Him to do it, and you shall be rich in joy to-night. Well, if it is not done at once, it will be done ere long. It sometimes takes a little time for a sorrow to turn into a joy. It is rather an odd figure of Cowper’s, but it is a true one: The bud may have a bitter taste, But sweet will be the flower. It takes a little time for our bitters to bloom out into sweetness, but they will. If you are praying for your dear child, praying for his conversion but do not see it, yet pray on, for your sorrow will be turned into joy. If you are in great trouble about your husband, or your brother, or your friend, whose conversion you are seeking, strive on still, for it will come. One day you shall have the joy of your heart, and your sorrow shall be turned into joy. And that trial you are laboring under just now — don’t faint under it; wait a little. It is a rough wind, but it is blowing you towards the port. It is a rough wave, but it is washing you on to the rock. It is not to-day that you will see it, nor to-morrow; but afterwards, and by-and-bye it will bring forth the comfortable fruits of righteousness, and you will rejoice.”
