Sorrow is better than laughter, for a sad countenance is good for the heart.Sorrow is better than laughter; for by the sadness of the face the heart is made good.Sorrow is better than laughter: for by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better.Sorrow is better than laughter; for by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made glad.
3 sermons cite this verse
This is the word of God for the people of God. Thanks be to God. Thanks be to God indeed. You may be seated. Let me start our reflection on this chapter with a little pop quiz, if I could. Please, I implore you, answer honestly in this pop quiz. Do not try to over-spiritualize it or out-think it or answer these based on the passage that we just read. I just want you to answer how you would instinctively if I walked up to you on the street randomly and asked you these questions, okay? By raise of hand, here's what I want you to answer. How many of you, by raise of hand, like to laugh more than you like to cry? Raise your hand, okay? All right, how many of you prefer weddings to funerals? Raise your hand. How many of you would rather celebrate your birthday than your death day? Raise your hand, okay? How many of you would rather be complimented than corrected? Raise your hand, okay? …
… So here it is. Ecclesiastes 7.3, sorrow is better than laughter. because by sadness of faith, the heart is made glad. You just want to shake your head and say, what possibly could that be? By sorrow of faith, tears stained face. the heart is made glad. Here's my paraphrase. There are experiences of loss and grief in life that take you to depths of joy you could not have known any other way. If you're old enough, you know what I'm talking about. Brand new Christians, maybe not. But if you've walked with the Lord long enough, you know what he's talking about. There are dark nights. There are losses. There are griefs. There are struggles. There are sorrows. Where he shows up and he's tasted in that, in a way, he could not be tasted any other way. So I'm asking you, do you have categories in your head? Do you have conceptions and ideas about what the enjoyment of Jesus is so that you don't jump to the conclusion, I guess I'm not a Christian because I don't. …
III. Now, dear Friends, time will only permit me just to mention THE ARGUMENTS OF THE WISE MAN HERE I find that I have a very large subject, and I might preach a much longer sermon, but I never like to detain you beyond the usual time. Let us read what Solomon says. "It is better to go to the house of mourning, than to go to the house of feasting." First, "for that is the end of all men." Secondly, "the living will lay it to his heart." Thirdly, "by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better." And fourthly, "the heart of the wise is in the house of mourning." "It is better to go to the house of mourning" then, first of all, because that is the end to which we must come. We must die. There is no discharge in this war. The decree is determined in Heaven, it is written like the laws of the Medes and Persians so that it cannot be altered—that each must go to the house of mourning—and must die. "It is greatly wise for us to talk with our last hours." We have heard of a man who had a skeleton in his bedroom—he was a wise man if he used it wisely. We know that the Egyptians, at every feast, had a skeleton at the end of the table—and they were wise men if they thought rightly of it. It is great wisdom to make Death our everyday companion. The horses that they use in war are, at first, very much afraid of the smoke and the noise, but I am told that they take those horses into the barrack-yards, first, and fire into their faces with powder until they are so used to it that they will easily go into the battle. So we ought often to accustom our souls to the thought of death, to make death a familiar thing, to talk with it every day. How can we do it better than by going to "the house ofmourning" where our friends lie dead?— …