In the Gospel of John, Jesus promises that the Holy Spirit will be our Helper, to be with us forever. He will dwell with us and will be in us. We will not be left as orphans. (John 14:16-18) As Christians, we take comfort in knowing that we will not be abandoned by God.
Jesus tells us that it is to our advantage that He depart, for else the Holy Spirit would not come to us. (John 16:7ff) The Spirit will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment. In addition to that, the spirit will guide believers. I take great joy in knowing that the Spirit will guide me into all the truth. (John 16:13) Knowing my wandering ways, this is a great encouragement to me.
The Spirit also gives us peace and removes our worries.
But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. – John 14:26-27
The Bible is very realistic. It tells us we will face trials. (“In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” – John 16:33.)
While we must not demand to know all of God’s Sovereign ways in order to trust in him, it is comforting to remember that God uses suffering to help us know Him more — the only source of true joy, peace, and hope. This is an act of grace and love.
In the end, our joy will be consummated! Scripture offers us a great illustration with birthing imagery:
You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy. When a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come, but when she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world. So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you. In that day you will ask nothing of me. Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you. Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full. – John 16:20-24
John Piper describes how present suffering will be used for God’s glory, both in the present and in the future:
Paul makes the astonishing statement in 2 Corinthians 6:10 that what marks his life and should mark ours is “sorrowful, yet always rejoicing.”? This is what makes our sorrow godly. I do not claim that this experience is simple or that we can even put it into adequate words—what it means to be joyful in sorrow. Heaving sobs at the loss of a loved one does not look like joy. Indeed is not joy in its fullness, as we will know it when “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away”? (Revelation 21:4).
Rather the joy that endures through sorrow is the foretaste of that future joy in God which we hope for in the future. When Jesus was “very sorrowful, even to death”? in Gethsemane he was sustained by “the joy that was set before him”? (Hebrews 12:2). This does not mean that he felt in the garden or on the cross all that he would feel in the resurrection. But it does mean that he hoped in it and that this hope was an experienced foretaste of that joy.
Therefore, we groan here, waiting for the redemption of our bodies and for the removal of all our sins (Romans 8:23). This groaning and grieving is godly if it is molded by our delight in hope of glory (Romans 5:2-3). The delight is muffled by the pain. But it is there in seed form. It will one day grow into a great vine that yields wine of undiluted delight.
So let us embrace whatever sorrow God appoints for us. Let us not be ashamed of tears. Let the promise that joy comes with the morning (Psalm 30:5) sustain and shape our grief with power and goodness of God. – Piper
Trust is a decision. May I learn to trust and hope in my Sovereign God.
