In the Bible, sorrow is introduced to us straightaway in Genesis 3:16. If you know Scripture, you know this is immediately on the heels of the world’s first no-no. It is fitting that the word is first used here, for the story of sin is the story of sorrow. In fact, sorrow is one of those things that really only makes sense from a biblical perspective.
God had created a universe and called it very good. His human creations, the ones made in His own likeness, had broken His law and all of creation broke with it. Sin stepped into perfection and sorrow seeped into joy. This is the broken world in which we live and it rightly grieves us because it is broken.
From the evolutionary perspective, however, death and suffering are not only normal, they are necessary! It was Richard Dawkins who said that the universe is “red in tooth and claw” when he described the story of existence. This is an acknowledgement that the entire history of the universe is soaked with blood and tears. But if death, sickness, and destruction are truly part of normal existence, why do they so bother us? After all, the end of the evolutionary worldview is a universe void of light, life, and heat.
Still, sickness ravages us and we weep. Disease devours us and we mourn. Time kills us and we sorrow. We sorrow because deep within us we recognize that these things are not good. Things are not the way that they should be. And they aren’t, for they were broken long ago. The moment they were broken, sorrow entered into the world.
The wonder of broken things is that they can be fixed. That’s the story of the Bible though, broken things getting fixed. Revelation 21:4 says it like this, “And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.” This is a beautiful picture of broken things being fixed, of invaders into joyful perfection being purged for the last time. This is why a Christian’s sorrow must always be mixed with hope.
I honestly cannot think of better words than Andy Mineo rapped in Death Has Died, so just read this:
“One day my God gon' crack the sky
He gon' bottle up every tear that we ever cried
Bring truth to every lie, justice for ever crime
All our shame will be gone and we'll never have to hide
No more broken hearts, no more broken homes
No more lockin' doors, no more cops patrollin'
No abusive words, or abusive touches
No more cancerous cells that'll take our loved ones
No more hungry kids, no more natural disaster
No child will ever have to ask where his dad is
No funerals where we wear all black
And death will be dead and we'll lock the casket
Yes!”
So the Christian correctly views sin and death as intrusions into God’s perfection. Sorrow is as well. And God’s perfection will be restored, so Christians correctly view sorrow as both temporary and fixable. Both made possible through Jesus Christ.
In the meantime, though, sorrow is all too real and at times we don’t know what to do. There may come circumstances that cause us to despair of life itself! I am reminded of Jehoshaphat’s prayer in 2 Chronicles 20. In verse 12, he says, “O our God, wilt thou not judge them? for we have no might against this great company that cometh against us; neither know we what to do: but our eyes are upon thee.”
There may be times in your life when sorrow is so great, and the injustice of it all so strong, that you echo this prayer: “God, will you not fix this? Are you aware of what is going on? I cannot fight this great sorrow! I cannot battle this depression and I do not know what to do, but I will keep my eyes on You!”
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