“Verily, verily, I say unto you, That ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice: and ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy” (John 16:20).
TEXT — John 16:16-24
Message
In 1858, Scottish missionary John G. Paton and his wife sailed to the New Hebrides (now called Vanuatu). Three months after arriving on the island of Tanna, his wife died. One week later, his infant son also died. Paton was plunged into sorrow. Feeling terribly alone, and surrounded by savage people who showed him no sympathy, he wrote: “Let those who have ever passed through any similar darkness as of midnight feel for me. As for all others, it would be more than vain to try to paint my sorrows…But for Jesus, and His fellowship…I would have gone mad and died”.
Jesus addressed His disciples, as He prepared for His imminent suffering. As the crucifixion approached, He spent more time with His close disciples than before. He knew His absence would create a vacuum, and the disciples would be lonely and dejected. He predicted correctly that in their grief, the world of sinners and religious persecutors would rejoice; but thankfully, their sorrow shall be turned into Joy on the resurrection morning. The ugliness of the cross shall make way for the beauty of resurrection. He likened their pains to that of a woman with a child whose sorrow is turned into joy as soon as she is delivered her baby.
Grief is inevitable in life. The world in which we live is characterized by crises, troubles, and problems that affect everybody. It becomes worse when in the midst of our sorrows, we have no comforter to speak comfortably unto us. God has a shoulder big enough for us all to lean on and find comfort. Those who look for an occasion to blaspheme the name of the Lord will ask where our God is, during our times of need.
Unbelievers and atheists, who are in denial of the existence of God have often capitalized on calamities and natural disasters to fuel their ‘there is no God’ doctrine. They argue that if God exists, He will not allow calamities and death. But they fail to understand that everything works together for good in the believer’s life. The God of all comforts will comfort you through difficult moments and unpleasant life experiences.
Thought for the day
If God is on the steering, don’t fear the road bumps.
Listed among “500 most powerful people on the planet” by the Foreign Policy magazine in 2013, Pastor (Dr.) William F. Kumuyi is the founder and General Superintendent of the Deeper Christian Life Ministry (DCLM) headquartered in Lagos, Nigeria. DCLM started in 1973 as a 15-member Bible study group right in Kumuyi’s apartment at University of Lagos where he was a lecturer. His revolutionary Bible teaching on personal holiness and commitment to evangelism soon gained so much traction and resulted in a widespread revival.
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