So runs an old children’s Sunday School chorus, unfortunately that is not always true, and even when it is, that joy doesn’t necessary last long.
Joy is one of the most frequent emotions referred to in the book of Proverbs (there are some 19 references) – one such place is in 14:13 which reads:
Pro 14:13 Even in laughter the heart may ache, and the end of joy may be grief.
How true we recognise these proverbs to be from our own experience and the experience of those around us! Here the writer addresses two sad truths and we’ll look quickly at them both:
Firstly, that our outward, surface emotions are often very different to our inward, deep down emotions. It is amazing when you consider so many famous comics how tragic their lives were behind the scenes. Eric Morecambe in 1999 was voted the funniest person of the 20th century in a British internet poll and yet according to the biography written by his eldest son was of a very different nature at home, one prone to frequent bouts of depression – Even in laughter the heart may ache
The second truth is that what is real in us today may not be tomorrow the end of joy may be grief. When I was young and growing up with my two brothers my mum would say when we were all rolling around in excessive merriment “it will all end in tears!” and it was often true.
What is the point of these two parables? Simply this: the true nature of things is shown by how they end up. We can cover them up for a while, we can put a “brave face” on, we can fool others, we can half-fool ourselves, but in the end the true nature will show through.
And that is the all-important thing to come to terms with in life isn’t it? What is the good of a life that in the end is shown to be nothing but ache and grief. To come to the end of your life and looking back see it all as nothing but a pretence, a shallow outward veil covering over an inward sense of disappointment and failure.
And that, of course, is where the gospel comes in. Listen to a few of the calls of Jesus to those whose lives were like that:
Mat 11:28 Come to me, all who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Joh 16:33 I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”
Joh 14:27 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.
How can the gospel bring us to the close of life without regrets, with joy, with peace, with hope? By dealing with the fundamental problem that we all have – our own failure, our own sin. And only the gospel can deal with it by covering it with the shed blood of Christ. And with that done, and by Holy Spirit’s indwelling, life becomes altogether different. It is now no longer about denying what we are really like, no longer about running away from issues like death and dying, no longer about uncertainty regarding the future, but about the joy, peace and hope of being right with God and delighting in what He has done for us through the Lord Jesus Christ!