In life, every human being created by the great God must have been created with something called sadness inside them. This means that one must go through periods of sadness and also periods of joy. Every person, even a servant of God, must go through these seasons. Our Lord Jesus Christ, who was 100% perfect, went through them—so how much more us who are not perfect? We must go through them. And sadness is like a sickness; when placed in certain environments it increases, and in other environments it decreases.
Sadness can come either from receiving bad news, or being struck by a bad event, or heading towards a bad circumstance, or sometimes it comes when something happens that you did not expect, did not plan for, or did not wish to happen as it did.
When a person reaches such a state, they find themselves sinking into a deep pool of thoughts, losing the desire to do anything—even losing the appetite to eat, and sometimes even the will to live.
The day the Lord was about to be crucified, great sadness entered His disciples after He told them that soon He would be crucified and then leave to go to the Father.
John 16:5-7 (ESV) —
“But now I am going to him who sent me, and none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.”
Moreover, when they were told that one of them would betray Him, indeed a fire was kindled within them. While they thought Christ would continue to remain with them, He gave them the news of disaster—that He was going to be crucified. They began to wonder why all this had to happen to their Lord. How would life be after He left?
Even when the Lord took them that night to pray with Him, their strength had completely failed; they could not pray much but fell asleep due to great sorrow. Let us read:
Luke 22:45-46 (ESV) —
“And when he rose from prayer, he came to the disciples and found them sleeping for sorrow, and he said to them, ‘Why are you sleeping? Rise and pray that you may not enter into temptation.’”
In such a state, the Lord saw the weakness of their hearts—they were tired and very sorrowful. But He told them to rise and pray because “the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Matthew 26:41). They needed to overcome that sadness because it caused their physical weakness. They had sorrow, but only for a short while, for a few days later they would have joy. Thus, He encouraged them to try to overcome the sadness that made their bodies weak and to stand and pray, because those trials were only for a short time. Two days later they would have unparalleled joy because He told them that after a short while they would no longer see Him (meaning His death and burial), and after a little longer, they would see Him again (meaning His resurrection). They would continue to see Him until Pentecost and have great joy. (See John 20:20)
During this season called Easter, among many lessons we learn, it is important to know this as well: DO NOT BE SAD. Perhaps you have gone through some trouble, or suffered some disturbance, sadness, hardship, bad news, or any situation that has brought great sorrow to your heart so that you have lost all hope and desire to continue in faith. This is not the time to deepen your sadness by despairing and losing faith. It is not time to fall asleep in sorrow. Instead, it is time to stand and PRAY with strength; it is time to keep moving forward because the sadness is only temporary! After a few days it will pass, and joy will return to you as before. You will regret why a few days ago you were so sad—you will regret why during your time of sadness you did not even pray or praise God.
Therefore, stand now, child of God! This is not the time to nurture sadness but the time to pray. The disciples’ sadness turned to joy when they saw the Lord resurrected—and when you see what had been dead come back to life, your joy will return soon. So do not be sad. Stand and pray, and keep moving forward, because the steps remaining ahead of you are fewer than those you have left behind. This is not the time to mope; it is the time to pray.
The Lord bless you.
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