Ask Anything: Will I Be Sad Forever?
Will I be sad forever?
This week we are answering some questions from our community and I can feel the sorrow and weight behind this one.
Short answer: no. But here’s my why…
I’ve taken so much comfort from the sovereignty and thoughtfulness of our God who created this world with patterns of change. Every 24 hours we live through day and night. Each year we live through winter, spring, summer and autumn. Psalm 74:16-17 says, “The day is yours, also the night; you established the moon and the sun…you made summer and winter.” Not only does our environment change, but the Bible reminds us that our lives go through seasons and changes too and that there is both “a time to weep and a time to laugh” (Ecc 3:3). Sadness will not stay forever. In time, summer will come.
The harder issue is that we have zero control over the timeline—we can’t fast forward to joy. And the sadness often feels like it’s lingering forever. Sometimes we cannot see even the tiniest spark of dawn on the horizon. We are well and truly in the dead of night.
That’s a hard and wearying place to be! So while here, we should lament and ask, “How long, Lord?” We rest ourselves on the proven character of our God who makes winter and summer. We battle our hearts to believe what is true, remembering there is purpose in our pain and so we are able to “...boast in our afflictions, because we know that affliction produces endurance, endurance produces proven character, and proven character produces hope” (Rom 5:3-4). We rely on the sustaining daily bread of God’s Word and rest in the faithfulness of God and the new mercies he gifts us every morning (Lam 3:22-23).
And ultimately, we place our hope in Christ and his finished work. Death has been defeated and one day, all sorrow will be laid to rest as our God makes his home with us. “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; grief, crying, and pain will be no more, because the previous things have passed away.” (Rev 21:4).
The tears you cry today will one day be wiped away by our God who makes both winter and summer. Relief is coming as sure as the dawn, so today, let’s press on in hope.
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