Two Kinds Of Sadness

 Sadness is one of the most common human emotions and can be difficult to deal with.  The feeling itself brings a burden and often the memory of an event that caused the sadness presses down on our hearts.  It's interesting that the Bible talks about both a bad and a good sadness. How are we to know the difference and how are we to deal with each of them?

 For the sadness that is used by God brings a change of heart that leads to salvation—and there is no regret in that! But sadness that is merely human causes death.  (2 Corinthians 7:10 GNT)

 We may experience sadness due to grief, loss, worries, disappointments, shame or regret, just to name a few factors.  Thankfully, God does not leave us on our own to face all this. He comforts and strengthens us in our time of need. 

 As we look at the wreckage in our past, our own pain and the pain we caused others, we may have a sense of sadness that overwhelms our hearts.  Recovery groups and programs that are based on God’s word will help us face those events and sort out what we are responsible to make amends for and what we can let go.  So many of us have stories of how God changed our sadness to joy when we were willing to repent of our sin and experience the pain associated with dealing with the past.  Jesus compared that sadness and joy with the extreme suffering of a woman birthing a child and the joy experienced when holding that baby in her arms.