and ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy.

Charles Spurgeon once said that “The road to sorrow has been well trodden, it is the regular sheep track to heaven, and all the flock of God have had to pass along it.”1 How is it that we get through the most difficult and painful of times and circumstances? What do we do in those moments and in those times that we don’t know what to do or we don’t know what to pray?
How do we get through these difficult and painful times? Where do we find hope, how do we find hope, and where do we turn to? In the midst of sorrow, in the midst of pain, we find help, comfort, and peace in the Lord Jesus Christ.

As Jesus was about to leave the disciples and go back to His Father, the disciples experienced great pain, sorrow, and loss. Jesus comforted His disciples by telling them He will turn their sorrow into joy. As Jesus was leaving the upper room with His disciples and heading toward the Garden of Gethsemane, He spoke these words, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy” (John 16:20).

Jesus told the disciples that they will weep and lament and grieve but their sorrow will turn into joy (John 16:20). The cross would cause there to be pain and sorrow and sadness for the disciples, but that very same event would be the cause of their rejoicing. It’s the cross of Christ that turns our sorrow into joy.