Day 19: John 16 - Sorrow into Joy
“So you also have sorrow now. But I will see you again. Your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy from you.”
Today’s Reading Passage: John 16
If you knew your days were numbered, what messages would you want to tell your closest friends? Would you share all the things your heart has ached to tell them over the years? Would you give them hopeful words of encouragement? Would you tell them not to be sad after you left?
Well as we see Jesus talk to His disciples for the last time before His death, He’s doing all that and more.
He knows His disciples are going to get discouraged. That they will feel sorrow.
I mean, really, sorrow is expected when you’re losing someone in your life. But sorrow is unavoidable to any of us as it fills our newsstands, nightly broadcasts, and social feeds and we hear of devastation after devastation around our world.
Tsunamis hit.
Viruses spread.
Mankind fights.
It leads to heartbreak and anguish as we see a world of hurt around us.
We can’t help but feel the impact and experience sorrow for ourselves in the broken world in which we live. A broken world caused by sin.
But Jesus’ final message to His disciples is a message for us as well:
“So you also have sorrow now. But I will see you again. Your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy from you” (John 16:22, CSB).
No one can take away your joy from you if you are finding that joy in Jesus!
Our faith in the God who offers us eternal life, through the saving power of Jesus on the cross and into the presence of God Almighty... fills us with hope. It turns our sorrow to joy!
What sorrow do you have in your life? How can you recognize today that through the gift of Jesus you can find joy even in the midst of that sorrow?
Written by: Heather Erickson