Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom.
James 4:9
I highly doubt that a pillow embroidered with James 4:9 would sell in your local Christian bookstore. I also suspect that the number of fridge magnets and t-shirts made with this verse are few. This verse, if spoken to you in the middle of the night, would cause anyone to pray and reject such a sentiment.
So why would we listen to James bring it to us in the Bible?!
If you recall, James is addressing the church at a time where double-mindedness (waffling between dependence upon God and dependence upon the world) and pride in self has created competition and fighting for leadership.* James has just finished calling the church to the wisdom of God (of which humility is paramount). He has instructed them to submit to God and resist the devil. James then lets them know in James 4:9 how they should respond to their realization of their arrogance and willful, wicked behavior.*
James invites them not to just act out mourning for their sinful ways but to engage in heart-level remorse.* Paul demonstrates this posture for us in Romans 7:24: “what a wretched man I am!” As seen elsewhere in Scripture (2 Samuel 19:1; Nehemiah 8:9; Acts 18:11, 15, 19), mourning and weeping are appropriate responses in the face of God’s impending judgment and call to repentance.*
My children are my children. They cannot change that. Nothing can. My children can do things that hurt me or impact the intimacy of our relationship however. Whenever kids see that they have done something to impact this intimacy with parents, they seek to respond in a way that restores that intimacy.
God tells us that our sin has impacted our fellowship with Him. Want to address that His way? It involves genuine remorse and repentance. We cannot ignore our sin and failings and think that God will too. We cannot think that because Jesus paid for our sins that our sins have no impact or consequence.
Douglas Moo states,
True Christian joy can never be ours if we ignore or tolerate sin; it comes only when we have squarely faced the reality of our sin, brought it before the Lord in repentance and humility, and experienced the cleansing work of the Spirit
In Scripture, laughter is often associated with foolishness.* God wants us to abandon the flippancy that minimizes sin in our lives; He wants us to embrace a heart of remorse and repentance. In doing so, He desires to bring us from genuine sorrow to genuine joy.*
Will we trade foolish laughter and counterfeit joy for the joy of restored intimacy with God?
Today, take a step.
Maybe today the one step God wants you to take is to come to God and grieve some sin in your life. Perhaps today God wants you to repent (change the way you think and live). Maybe today God wants you to outwardly express your inward grief. Perhaps you have been genuinely grieving your sin and now God wants you to experience the joy of restored intimacy with Him.
Whatever the step, ask God to direct it. Take a moment to take that step. Invite Him to speak. He will.
Life is a long road. Walk it with Jesus.
Feel free to comment at the bottom of this page! We would love to hear from you!
*Blomberg, C. L., & Kamell, M. J. (2008). James (Vol. 16, pp. 194–195). Zondervan.
Guthrie, G. H. (2006). James. In T. Longman III & D. E. Garland (Eds.), The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Hebrews–Revelation (Revised Edition) (Vol. 13, p. 256). Zondervan.
Stulac, G. M. (1993). James (Jas 4:7–10). IVP Academic.
Moo, D. J. (2021). The Letter of James (D. A. Carson, Ed.; Second Edition, pp. 243–244). William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.
Nystrom, D. P. (1997). James (p. 229). Zondervan Publishing House.
Martin, R. P. (1988). James (Vol. 48, p. 153). Word, Incorporated.