“A time to cry, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance. ” Ecclesiastes 3: 4. We are addressing the subject of “ the principle of joy and pain.”
The Principle of Joy and Pain – The Pain Principle
The expression “crying and mourning” brings us back to suffering, to hard work, to difficulties related to human life. In the life of a man, there comes a time when everything seems to be complicated and loom over him. As human beings, we must expect to endure sentences regardless of the form and content of the sentence. When it comes to pain, it even happens that we lose faith, hope, and courage. We seem to be overwhelmed by depression, anxiety.
This is the moment when we need to return to ourselves, to probe, and especially in these difficult moments, we need the support of others. It is there that we become aware of our weakness, our smallness, our limits, our incapacities. This makes us understand that we are nothing, without strength, limited in time and space, that we need an external and divine force: God. It is the ideal moment when a man feels the existence of God. It’s part of human life.
On the other hand, it is an opportunity for the weak of spirit to deny God or to deny his existence, by cursing God. And that’s not the best reaction. I have always tended to say that you confess it or not – you deny it or not: God always remains God. He remains alive, supreme, sovereign, and worthy of his holy throne.
The Principle of Joy and Pain – Laughs and Dances
The expression ” laughs and dances ” means happiness, peace, the joy of life, fulfillment. It’s also part of human life. There is a time when we are happy to live, where we thank God for giving us life, where we are bursting, we express the joy of life: everything seems to be good for us. This is the moment when we taste the joy of living.
And this is where we must imagine how life would be in heaven: in a life without tears, without difficulties, without pain, without lamentations. It is a foretaste of the life to come, of happiness, joy, peace, and well-being that await those who will live in heaven for eternity.
It is there that man seems to be grateful to God for praising God. We bless God, recognize his blessings in our life. We see life with a good eye.
Don’t Forget on the Principle of Joy and Pain
However, for some, it is the moment to glorify themselves, to delight the glory and merit that must be rendered to God. They are filled with pride and think that they have acquired it on their own merits. Others, in turn, forget God and engage in overflowing manifestations of joy, leading them to extreme lust, worldly follies. To do so, too, is to dishonor God. Don’t forget the principle of joy and pain in the time of happiness. I urge you to read the book of Deuteronomy 8: 10-19.
When the principle of joy and pain in our life applies, the Lord calls us in these sentences: ” In the day of happiness, enjoy happiness, and in the day of misfortune, reflect, because God has made one like the other, so that man can not guess anything of his future. ” Ecclesiastes 7:14 (Bible Version of the Sower).
Circumstances May Change
Therefore, in joy, as in pain, let us seek the will of God and remain faithful to him. He is the one who changes times and circumstances (Daniel 2:21). Nothing knows how to curse God when things are bad when we are having a hard time. Take the example of Job in the Bible (Job 2: 10).
The wise man rightly said: “… give me neither poverty nor riches, give me the bread that is necessary to me. Fear that in abundance I will not deny you, and say, Who is the LORD? Or that in poverty, I do not steal, And attack me in the name of my God. “(Proverbs 30: 8-9).
Read the next article by following this link: (6) – the principle of essay and observation.