May 15, 2002

We don’t like to see people go through tough times.  We like to see everyone around us happy and rejoicing and shouting the victory through life.  But there are times when people around us have a ‘heavy heart.’  When they’ve lost a loved one or have experienced some other kind of loss that has brought them to a place of heaviness.

We need to be sensitive enough to know that when a person has a heavy heart or is weeping and we come to them singing songs or rejoicing we may not be bringing the comfort we think we are.  We are to bring comfort to those who are troubled and sometimes that comfort comes by us walking with them during their difficulty to help them come through.  We don’t want them to mask their feelings of grief with laughter.  Our end result should not be to force them to rejoice and sing if it’s not in their heart to do so.  There is a normal period of grieving that people need to come through and then when they do come through it then their singing and rejoicing will come from the heart and will be genuine and not a forced happiness.

Now of course sometimes people get stuck in a rut of grief and sorrow and they need to learn to accept the past and leave it behind so they can experience the joy the Lord wants them to.  Guilt, anger, denial, self-pity, etc., may cause a person to get stuck in a rut of this kind and in those cases a person may need extra help to get out.

And in our efforts to comfort those who are weeping we are not to give up our own joy or peace but we’re to show mercy and compassion and use God’s wisdom in how to bring true, lasting comfort.  In these situations, our joy and peace will be shown more greatly through our kindness than through an outward display of it.

When we look to the Lord for wisdom, He will show us in each case how we can be of true help to those who suffer.