What does the Bible say about sadness?

If, however, in these scenes we see shining examples of the faith of God's elect in the presence of death, we also learn that faith does not set aside natural affection. Thus we read, "Abraham came to mourn for Sarah, and to weep for her" (v. 2). Full well faith knows that our loved ones that die in the Lord will rise again, and that for them death is gain, but nonetheless we rightly mourn and feel their loss. Our sure and certain hope of resurrection tells us indeed, as the apostle reminds us, that our sorrow is not the sorrow of those who have no hope. But there is no word to say we are not to sorrow. None could know the power of resurrection like the One who is Himself the resurrection and the life, and yet He wept at the grave of Lazarus.

The Spirit of God soon made all plain by means of the Apostle. "I would not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope." Do not misunderstand these words. Saints are not forbidden to sorrow. By no means. God would not have His children stoical. He would have us feel the circumstances of the way, but would not have us swallowed up by them, as others. "The Hope" comes into the Christian's sorrow. It sweetens the most bitter cup and brightens the darkest hour. "For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep through Jesus will God bring with Him." This is wonderful! The sleeping saint, instead of being a loser, is only the more like his Lord. And what God did for Christ He will do for all who are His. He raised Him out of the cold tomb and placed Him in glory; He will do the very same at the appointed hour for all His beloved sleeping ones. "Through Jesus" is more correct in 1 Thess. 4:14. "In Jesus" has no real meaning, not being a Scriptural phrase at all. "In Christ" expresses our standing before God in Him risen, as Rom. 8 shows; "in Jesus" is nowhere found that I am aware of. "Through Jesus" is very sweet here, and stills every rising murmur. When a loved one is called hence it is no mere accident or circumstance; it is the act of Jesus. "He does all things well."

How precious is the thought of this to the crushed and sorrowing heart! The sight of human tears drew forth a groan from the loving, sympathising heart of the Son of God. Let all mourners remember this. Jesus did not rebuke Mary for weeping. He did not rally her on account of her sorrow. He did not tell her she ought not to feel; that she ought to be above everything of that sort. Ah, no! this would not be like Him. Some heartless folk may talk in this style; but He knew better. He, though Son of God, was a real man; and hence, He felt as a man ought to feel, and He knew what man must feel, while passing through the dark vale of tears.

Verse 10. "As sorrowful, yet alway rejoicing." There is much deep and tender feeling hi these words. Why was He sorrowful? The general answer to this enquiry is, if rightly given, because he followed with so close an imitation in the steps of Him who was "the Man of Sorrows" upon earth. The coming and going of the Son of God have left the world unchanged, and if Christ be in us energetically, we must mourn with Christ. But more especially Paul found, as these Corinthians would not now need to be more pointedly reminded, abundant cause of sorrow in his service to the saints. No outward persecution made him grieve, but tears were oftentimes his meat while, as one on whom the Lord had laid the care of all the churches, he watched with anxious yearning for their souls. The deep and sad knowledge which he had of the fretting leprosy of the flesh, in its manifold and often unsuspected working in the Church of God, and the distinct prevision that was given him of the gradual progress of corruption and decay in that which bore outwardly the name of Christ, until, with a form of godliness remaining, its power should be openly denied and Babylon the Great be stablished in the pride of wickedness, must needs acquaint his soul with grief. But if he sorrowed often, he rejoiced continually; for the very atmosphere of that kingdom of God's dear Son, into which believers are translated, is "joy in the Holy Ghost," and the apostle's measure of that joy was richly proportioned to his faith. While he estimated, therefore, to their full extent, the power of the adversary and its effects, and mourned, as love only mourns, at the prospect of increasing evil in the churches, he could evermore rejoice in Christ. For the day of His deliverance is fixed, and draws ever nearer to His prisoners of hope. To Him pertain the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty (1 Chron. 29:11); and although for a season evil be allowed apparently to triumph, for the proving of the faith of His elect, it shall result in their more abundant joy and honour, when the day of recompence is come. Till then, a state of mourning is a state of blessing (Matt. 5:4), and no joy is really of the Lord which is not sometimes shaded also by His grief.

(Vv. 8-11.) He recognises that the first epistle had made them sad, and this he had regretted: but since hearing from Titus the effect it produced, he no longer had any regrets. For he now learned that it had wrought repentance, and that their sorrow was after a godly sort, not the hopeless sorrow of the world that works death. Thus Paul can rejoice, not indeed for the sorrow, but in what the sorrow produced. This sorrow was but for a season; it was a sorrow according to God; being sorrow of a godly sort, it wrought repentance to salvation, not to be repented of; and it brought forth fruits worthy of repentance set forth in the earnest way in which they dealt with the matter and cleared themselves from evil. Moreover they had not only dealt with the actual evil, but had cleared themselves of their own laxity. How different the sorrow of this world as seen in the solemn case of Judas, whose sorrow instead of being for a season is for eternity; instead of being godly was only of man, and instead of working repentance, led only to death.

Why are we sad? There are many things to make us sad in these days. When we think of men made in the likeness and image of God only living to destroy one another, of nations, down-trodden and terrorized over, of all the destruction, the bloodshed, the sorrow and bereavement in the world, we might well be sad. We should have hard and unchristian hearts if we were not saddened as we think of all these things. Yet while on the one hand we may be sorrowing, on the other hand are we not rejoicing? The Apostle Paul spoke of being sorrowful, yet always rejoicing. Sorrowful as he thought of the sin of the world, of the rebellion of man against God and the rejection of God's grace and mercy in our Lord Jesus Christ, but rejoicing because he had no doubt that God would triumph in the end; that God's glory would fill the earth; that the rebellion of man would be crushed and peace established. How do we know that this will come to pass? God has given us assurance of it in that He has raised up Christ from the dead. So here is a great fact that should make us rejoice, that should fill us with confidence and with hope, so that the sadness that we have in regard to the state of things in the world is more than balanced by the joy that we have in the knowledge of God's coming mighty triumph.

When the soul is distressed or cast down, that is not sin in itself. But sin comes in when there is distrust of God.

You will admit that it must be blessed for the Lord to have His redeemed people at home, and that it must be blessed for them to be there with Him, for as in the new earth there will be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying nor any more pain, and all tears will be wiped from all eyes, so must it be now in the presence of the Lord. You have no doubt as to all this, but what of yourself? You have sorrow and tears enough, you have been left lonely and desolate; and what a desolator death is! You hear the words of your friends, and they are sympathetic words, and are spoken for your consolation, but how cold the warmest of them seem to be. You feel that they do not understand what this means to you. There is a certain comfort in their words but they do not go far enough. There is a depth within you that they cannot reach, and your sorrow lies in that unreachable depth; there is a secret chamber within your heart that the most intimate of your friends cannot enter, and it is in that very chamber that this sorrow of yours has taken up its abode. Can there be any blessedness for you? Yes, for the Lord Himself has said, "Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted." And He will make good His own word, even to you. Your sorrow has made more room for Him in your life than ever there has been before; it has made you feel your need of Him as you never felt it before. He has never been far away from you. He is at your side now. He is waiting for you to admit Him into that secret chamber where your grief holds its sway. He would enter there that He might fill it with His own peace, the peace of His presence. He is the great Comforter, and He is this because He fully understands. Nobody else does. Your heart knows its own bitterness, and there are times when your best friends seem complete strangers to you, so little do they understand you and enter into your feelings, but it is not so with Him. He knows you through and through, He understands, and because He understands and knows all you are passing through, He can sympathize.

Think of broken-hearted Mary. She brought her sorrow to the feet of the Lord as He waited for her outside the town of Bethany. "If Thou hadst been here," she cried, "my brother had not died." Then she looked up into His face through her tears, and lo, JESUS WEPT. Was not she at that moment most blessedly comforted? She had known that He loved her before, but she had never known that He loved her like that. His tears were more eloquent than words, and she found that His sympathy was greater than her sorrow. He did not speak to her, but He kept close by her side, and you may be sure that it was true of her, then and there, "Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted."

Rev. 21:4. — “And He shall wipe away every tear from their eyes; and death shall not exist any more, nor grief, nor cry, nor distress shall exist any more, for the former things have passed away,” It is only in the eternal state that the effects of sin, physical and moral, are completely removed. The millennial era is not, as we have seen, a perfect condition, and hence even under the beneficent sway of the Lord tears will be shed on earth. The words, “He shall wipe away every tear from their eyes,” is verbally repeated in Revelation 7:17. There, however, it is a millennial scene; here it is in the everlasting state. The wiping away of tears is not an action ascribed to the Lamb either here or in the earlier scene. God does this. If He wipes away every tear, then He removes every cause and occasion of sorrow. The tear-drop will never again glisten in the eye. The eye is said to be “the fountain of sorrow,” but God shall wipe it dry.

Now no one can grieve and mourn too much or too deeply over the sorrowful spectacle presented by the divisions of the church of God today; nay, we believe, and insist upon it, that it is the only right condition of soul for any and every true child of God who knows and loves His truth; yet, for all that, mourning over a failure is a very different thing from despairing on account of it. Trial, whether to the individual, or to the church, is surely permitted by God for His own wise and gracious purposes; but whatever those purposes may be, they are certainly not that those who profess His name should lose confidence in Him, and give up everything in despair.