Trading our sorrow and pain

I'm trading my sorrow.

I'm trading my pain.

I'm laying them down for the joy of the Lord.

We sang those lyrics in our worship service at church yesterday.

Hum...  How can one trade sorrow and pain for joy?  I mean, even when I am worshiping, I still have my pain.  It doesn't go away.  I can't simply put it down, as the song suggests; as if I have some choice to hang on to my pain.  Pain just IS.  You can't simply make it go away.

I don't know, but my guess is that the writer has never experienced great and enduring pain; or at least he wasn't experiencing pain when he wrote those lyrics.  They seem an example of the sort of cliches and platitudes sometimes offered to suffering people.  That said, I think I know what he was trying to say.  There is a kernel of truth in his words.  His problem is that he left out a key ingredient for rejoicing in the midst of suffering.  

Fortunately, Jesus didn't leave it out of His teaching.  Look at what he said in the Sermon on the Mount, in what we call the Beattitudes.  At the end of the "blessed are you" verses, Jesus summarizes with this: “Blessed are you when [you suffer].  Rejoice in that day and leap for joy.  Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven!"  (Matt. 5 and Luke 6)

Jesus doesn't just tell us, "Don't worry.  Be happy!"  He gives the reason to rejoice:  because "great is your reward in heaven!"  Jesus tells us that our sorrows and our pain will result in something very good:  a great reward - a reward that we only get after faithfully enduring pain and suffering.  The reward of which He speaks is not heaven itself.  Heaven is no reward; it is a free gift to all who put their faith in Jesus.  No, this is something extra - a reward given in heaven only to those who suffer.  

So, in that sense the writer of the lyrics (unwittingly) got it right.  We can trade our sorrow and pain for a glorious reward in heaven.  It doesn't make the pain go away now; but it does give us joy in the hope that our pain will not only end someday; but, that it will have earned a great harvest of blessing.  

And that, my friend, is a Reason to Rejoice!