Read

Why is sorrow better than laughter?

Ecclesiastes 7:1

Solomon says that sadness is better than laughter because a person who is always laughing is not really facing reality. A person who is frivolous is often trying to deaden the pain of an empty life. Very little is learned from prosperity, frivolity, and festivals. But often, we learn the most important lessons of life in times of difficulty. I can testify to that. I know that the most important time in my life as an adult have been the years since cancer has been a part of my vocabulary. I could never have learned the things God has taught me with an unmitigated, unbridled, uninterrupted success pattern of life. Our highest purpose is not to be happy. Our highest purpose is to know God. We can be impressed by truth and doctrine, but usually it takes pain to change us.

Back to Ecclesiastes