We are told to rejoice in the Lord always. There are plenty of preachers and teachers who will tell us that we should be happy even in the midst of trials because the Lord is with us – and He is. But does that mean that we are always to go around with a smile, no matter what disasters we are enduring? Is there a time to mourn?
Why Does God Appoint a Time to Mourn?
What about the verse above? It tells us to be joyful in times of prosperity and that is something we don’t have difficulty with. But why would God appoint days of adversity in our lives? Isn’t there enough suffering already on this planet?
We don’t truly know the answer to that question. God has His reasons and purposes for His actions. Sometimes suffering is the only thing that will open our hearts to Him. Difficult experiences and tragedy can lead others to Him if we are faithful to Him while we endure. Sorrow leads us to long for the day that it will be gone or to look for answers that point to meaning in the midst of our grief. There are many purposes of the Lord behind the adversity that strikes us on this earth. The truth is, we probably wouldn’t seek Him much or at all if our lives were only peace and prosperity. We would enjoy the benefits of this world and wouldn’t give Him much thought. Trouble brings our need of Him to our attention and it draws the attention of others to Him as they watch what we are going through. In His wisdom, all the seasons of life come our way, including a time to mourn.
Mourning is Authentic 
When hard times come, the Bible itself tells us that there is a time to mourn. There are times when we just have to be sad. Anything else would be inauthentic. Smiling on the outside while crying on the inside is possible, but it is not truthful. God doesn’t expect us to be happy all the time. There are times when we need to be sad.
Hard Times in the Bible
Various Bible characters endured hard times. The Psalms are full of expressions of grief as the writers grappled with adversity. Some of them seemed to have a case of major depression (the writer of Ecclesiastes, for example). Jeremiah was known as the weeping prophet; Job lost everything; Daniel lost his homeland and spent his life in the service of a foreign king; Samuel saw his people reject the Lord and ask for a king to rule over them, and John the Baptist spent his last days in a gloomy prison. All of these things caused sorrow and grief to the people that endured them. Yet there seems to be one thing that stands out in their experiences: They learned that the Lord was with them.
God is with Us as We Endure
When He is with us, the way that we express our grief is different. We can say through the tears that we are sad for now, but looking forward to the future when grief and mourning will be gone forever. Our witness through difficult times can be that yes, this is hard, but God is with us and that helps. We can tell others that we gain comfort and strength from our Lord on a daily basis. Although it might be a time to mourn, our God is with us as we endure.
But … What About When He isn’t There? 
But what about when God seems critically absent during times of crisis? What about when the crisis is so huge that it is completely overwhelming? We wonder where He is in the midst of our trial. The pain and suffering seem to obscure Him from our view and we feel alone. We might even feel angry, betrayed, resentful or used. We are far from enjoying the comfort of His presence and we can be bitterly angry or even distressed about the notion of the Lord being with us during times of trial because it surely doesn’t seem like He is. He knows about that. He knows how difficult it is for us to endure the experiences we are facing. But just like a parent and child, He stands before us and gently tilts our faces up towards Him. He tells us to look at Him, because He is there, even though it doesn’t feel like it. We might still be grieving or distressed, but knowing that He is there makes a difference – if we accept it, of course. He can’t help us much if we insist on being angry and withdrawn or denying that He is there.
God Still has a Purpose
Even though we would probably like a quick solution to the adversity we face, or can’t wait for the world to end so we can see loved ones again, knowing that God is in the midst of our experiences with us is comforting. We don’t need to feel guilty for crying, nor do we need to pretend that everything is ok because someone told us that Christians should always be happy. It’s ok to mourn; the Bible tells us that there is a time to mourn and we can accept its wisdom. We just need to remember that God still has a purpose for us and that He is there with us.