Why Sorrow is Better than Laughter

This morning I was doing some emailing in preparation for a conference our jr. high youth group will be attending this weekend. I was listening to a sermon while I was working and like usual I was absolutely destroyed by God's Word and my mind feels like a boulder rolling down the side of a mountain so I thought I would share what the Lord is teaching me in this moment:

Ecclesiastes 7:2-3 " It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting, for this is the end of all mankind, and the living will lay it to heart. Sorrow is better than laughter, for by sadness of face the heart is made glad."

How can sorrow and the house mourning be better than the house of feasting?

I have known this passage but always inwardly struggled with what this looks like and how this should play out in my life. I was in high school when the Emo movement was in full swing, and when I saw those kids i thought to myself "they are so sad, self-focused, and selfish that this is obviously not who Christ has called us to be as representatives of himself." Also, the Bible is filled with passages similar to Nehemiah 8:10 "the joy of the Lord is your strength" and Hebrews 12 where the writer says Jesus even died for the Joy set before him.

So how does Ecclesiastes 7:2-3 fit into the broader picture of us finding our hope and joy in Christ?

Here is how:

The reason sorrow and morning are better than laughter is because sorrow causes us to think about our human condition, eternity, and to call upon the Lord in a way laughing never will.

I have attended many sporting events in my life, these events are filled with laughter and joy (unless you are a cubs fan) as people watch and support their teams. I have never been at a game where all of sudden the fans in the stadium begin to join in a conversation about human depravity and the devastating effects of sin. At sporting events people want to drink beer, eat hot dogs, and talk about sports, its why they are there.

Likewise very rarely does the bloody death of Christ come up as people are sitting down at a restaurant enjoying a nice steak and a fine wine. And when was the last someone started weeping over the eternity of their lost friends while blowing out the candles on their birthday cake?

The point is that when we are experiencing the "good things" in life we want to sit back and enjoy the ride, our minds are focussed on living in the present.

The purpose me writing this is not to condemn fun, i will still like steak and sports for as long as I live and Ecclesiastes 3 clearly states there is a time for laughter along with weeping. But I do want to say that sorrow and mourning provide great value to our souls that laughter never will!

I want to quickly look at 2 types of sorrow/mourning and look at how it is greater than laughter, spiritually speaking:

Type 1: Sorrow over the brokenness of our world/suffering

Very recently my wife and I endured a time of suffering together. There were tears, sadness, and a lot of hugging and comforting. This sadness and suffering was not a negative thing but in many ways was a blessing in our lives. Both Mary and I would say our walks with the Lord have been strengthened as we were made to rely solely on God, trust that he is good, and
believe even more deeply in His promises.

Whether it be war, starvation, death of a loved one, ect. only by experiencing that type of sorrow and suffering can we truly understand what it means to trust only in God and understand what Job means when he writes "the Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord."

Times of sorrow (especially death) also directs our mind towards the eternal. We evaluate what we believe and whether or not our lives are consistent with what we believe. Sorrow makes us ask the tough questions that laughter and joy try desperately to keep trapped in the back of our minds.

It is for this reason that I often pray that God would destroy my friends and family who are lost in order that they may be drawn to the Himself! Sorrow brings about a soberness that is not found in laughter.

Type 2: Sorrow over Sin

I think Christians are not nearly broken enough over sin. If we were, the church would look drastically different from top to bottom, and would be a much greater agent of change in our culture. I firmly believe that through Christ we are more than conquerers of sin and death(Romans 8:37), and that allowing guilt of past failures to control our lives is sin in itself.

However our sin should cause sorrow in the sense as it serves as a reminder of our rebellion against God and the destruction it brings. Our sorrow over sin should continually bring us back to the foot of the cross as we lift the name of Jesus high in our lives out of a heart of gratitude and amazement for what he has done on our behalf. Where we could never impress God, Christ did so perfectly on our behalf.

I would go so far as to say if anyone is ever comfortable with their walk with God, and are not continually in desperate need for God to form them into his likeness, they are sailing in dangerous water! Or at least they dont understand magnitude of sin and Christ's atonement for that sin.

Sorrow over sin causes us to remove our pride insert Christ in its place!

Like I said, the point of all of this not to suggest that we walk around depressed and constantly keep a box of tissue with us at all times, but that when we experience times of sorrow, we can understand that sometimes sorrow and suffering is a manifestation of God's grace in our lives, as he continues to refine us and draw us closer and closer to himself.

Would love to hear your thoughts,

cal