The Path to Joy Leads Through Valleys of Sorrow
December 15, 2022 | by: Dale Thiele | 0 Comments
Posted in: Pastoral Encouragement
The theme of joy permeates the Christmas season. From the angel’s announcement to the shepherds (“I bring you good news of great joy” Lk. 2:10) to carols like Joy to the World and O Come, O Come, Emmanuel with its repeated refrain, “Rejoice!” to greeting cards wishing you joy this season, joy is unavoidable. What do we do, though, when we don’t feel the joy as all these proposals encourage? What hinders joy? What can maximize our joy?
Perhaps it is human nature, but we too often associate our level of joy with the circumstances of our lives. A child’s joy on Christmas morning is linked to the gifts he receives. An adult’s joy is tied to a job promotion or bonus. Or we experience joy in relation to family members, seeing a child succeed, visiting a loved one after a long separation, or enjoying a relaxing vacation together. If we do not receive what we want, lose our job, or have a loved one pass away, these joys are threatened.
The Bible, however, does not speak about joy as something linked to the circumstances of our lives. In biblical terms, our joy is directly linked to God himself. Psalm 16:11 says, “In your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” Our joy is made full in the presence of God, regardless of what is happening in our lives. Peter says that we “rejoice with joy that is inexpressible” when we believe in Christ (1 Pet. 1:8). Joy is a fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22). And we are encouraged to pray that God would fill us with all joy (Rom. 15:13).
I join Jesus in desiring that “your joy may be full,” regardless of the circumstances you are facing this holiday season. I am not being insensitive to or trivializing your pains, hardships, and trials. I am praying with Paul that the “God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing” this holiday season (Rom. 15:13). If you believe that joy is optional for a Christian, or that God permits lack of joy in certain circumstances, then you are minimizing God’s will for you and trivializing the “good news of great joy” of the birth of Christ.
So, how do we move from shaky joy rooted in our circumstances to a deep-rooted, unshakable, biblical joy? The Puritans thought deeply about these things because they understood that our affections, like joy, are central to our relationship with God. Thomas Brooks, perhaps, gives the best answer for how to deepen one’s joy in Christ. He writes, “The higher the springs of godly sorrow rise, the higher the tides of holy joy rise. His graces will flourish most, who evangelically mourns most.” In this statement, Brooks links our deepening joy to a deepening sorrow. He specifically would say that this is sorrow over sin.
How can sorrow over sin lead to ever-increasing joy? One side of this is understanding how evil our sin is. The other side is understanding how sufficient and good the work of Christ is. Another Puritan, Thomas Manton, explains the evil of sin, “All the sins that ever have been or shall be committed in the world, they are virtually in our natures, they are but Original Sin acted and drawn out this way and that way… and if we were but left to ourselves, and had the same temptations and occasions, we should be as bad as others.” Every single one of us has residing in us the seeds of every sin and evil. It is only by God’s grace that we are not as sinful as our fallen natures would like to be. This sin, and sinful inclination, cuts us off from the everlasting joy in the presence of God. Tragedy and hardship do not keep us away from God; sin does. Sorrow over sin is the first step back into the presence of the God of all comfort.
The other side is the glory of Christ. Gabriel announced to Joseph that Jesus “will save his people from their sins” (Matt 1:21). This is the “good news of great joy.” Jesus, and only Jesus, removes the offense of our sin and reconciles us back to the Father. Without Jesus, we would not have God. John Owen commends the pursuit of Christ when he wrote, “The great sin of believers is, that they make not use of Christ’s bounty as they ought to do; that we do not every day take of him mercy in abundance.”
Sorrow over sin leads us to depend utterly on Christ alone. Taking of him mercy in abundance leads to the fullness of joy. This joy can never be shaken by the circumstances of our lives. This is the joy of Christmas that God wants you to have. Join John Newton in the pursuit of this joy by saying with him, “I remember two things: that I am a great sinner and that Christ is a great Savior.”
