Sadness is a Blessing

When life changes unexpectedly and everything you know shifts, what do you do? If you’re a person of faith, you pray and seek God. But when your prayers aren’t answered and miracles don’t happen, then what? You’re not only hurt from what you’re praying about to change, but you’re hurt by your unmet pleas for Gods hand to end the pain and sadness you’re feeling.

Don’t you wish we never had to feel pain or suffering or is it just me? Seeing the people you love die suddenly in an accident or slowly from sickness. Or maybe even worse than death, watching them struggle to live with the pain of what’s happened to them. You wonder how God feels about it all and why He’s allowed it. Maybe you’re like me and you’ve asked God to just end your life so you can be free from the suffering of this world and finally be at peace with Him.

Our human experience on earth is filled with all of the goodness of God and all of the pain of sin. Knowing we have hope in God’s redemptive plan helps us endure, but still suffering from sin until that day. Enduring both God and sin in our journey through this world is the greatest struggle of all. The struggle of who you will serve when life is easy and hard, yourself or Him. Serving yourself is easy, but there’s no reward in the end. Serving God is hard, but the reward will be great in the end.

I’m reminded of these beautiful and ancient poems of the awareness of sin and Gods goodness:

“Be gracious to me, God, according to your faithful love;

according to your abundant compassion, blot out my rebellion.

Completely wash away my guilt and cleanse me from my sin.

For I am conscious of my rebellion, and my sin is always before me.

Against you — you alone — I have sinned and done this evil in your sight.

So you are right when you pass sentence; you are blameless when you judge.

Indeed, I was guilty when I was born; I was sinful when my mother conceived me.

Surely you desire integrity in the inner self, and you teach me wisdom deep within.”

Psalms 51:1-6

Lord, you have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I stand up;

you understand my thoughts from far away. You observe my travels and my rest;

you are aware of all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue,

you know all about it, Lord. You have encircled me;

you have placed your hand on me. This wondrous knowledge is beyond me.

It is lofty; I am unable to reach it.

Where can I go to escape your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?

If I go up to heaven, you are there;

if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there.

If I fly on the wings of the dawn

and settle down on the western horizon, even there your hand will lead me;

your right hand will hold on to me.

If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me,

and the light around me will be night”  — even the darkness is not dark to you.

The night shines like the day; darkness and light are alike to you.

For it was you who created my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.

I will praise you because I have been remarkably and wondrously made.

Your works are wondrous, and I know this very well.

My bones were not hidden from you when I was made in secret,

when I was formed in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw me when I was formless;

all my days were written in your book and planned before a single one of them began.

God, how precious your thoughts are to me; how vast their sum is!

If I counted them, they would outnumber the grains of sand;”

Psalms 139:1-18

Knowing the holiness of God and the sin of yourself can feel unsettling because you know who your inner-self really is. The thoughts and desires you have, the doubts and faithlessness that rise up in painful moments when you’re left wonder why God would allow it to happen in the first place. Yet, God is so patient and kind to lead us through all of our human emotions, even when we find fault with His sovereignty.

We all have a story that was written for us by God yet hindered by sin before we were born . My story has chapters of pain and sadness from sin and death. Other chapters are written with laughter and happiness with friends and family. I used to wish I could rip a few chapters out of my story, but a wise and kind person enlightened my perspective with these words of encouragement:

“Sadness is the reflection of happiness. We cannot truly be happy without first experiencing sadness. It is a stage that must occur and one we must embrace with patience. Sadness and hardship are what allow us to taste happiness. Without sadness and hardship, we would lose the ability to feel joy.”

Maybe God allows sadness so we can feel His comfort and connect with people in a deeper way. When you see someone laughing, give thanks to God that He has given us joy in this dark world. Remind your pain that without it, you wouldn’t be able to hug your hurting friend with compassion, knowing that what they’re going through will eventually be okay and they will feel joy in a greater way. Seeing the world through this new perspective will grant you greater patience and peace as you walk through hard times with God and His people.

Sadness is a blessing if you embrace it as one.

Let me know your thoughts in the comments and go follow my Facebook page to see what other people may be thinking!

Below I will link some helpful tools at walking through pain and suffering with God:

Great Podcast to learn from: https://drleaf.com/blogs/news/its-okay-not-to-be-okay

The book, Walking with God Through Pain and Suffering by Tim Keller: https://a.co/d/bxPrA8n

More videos like the one below: bibleproject.com/app