Why will weeping only last for the night, but joy will last forever? Because of Jesus.

“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?… future generations will be told about the Lord. They will proclaim His righteousness, declaring to a people yet unborn: He has done it! (Psalm 22:1, 30-31)”

“For his anger is but for a moment, and his favour is for a lifetime. Weeping may stay for the night, joy comes with the morning. (Psalm 30:5)”

Don’t you love the ‘why’ word? Humans ask ‘why’ from childhood. ‘Eat your broccoli.’ ‘Why?’ ‘Because its good for you.’ ‘Why?’ ‘Because it makes you clever.’ ‘Why?’ ‘Because everyone knows broccoli looks like a brain so its good for you brain.’ ‘Why?’ etc. etc. etc.

We are born with a curiosity that will only be stamped out if we experience constant disappointment and an endless cascade of dissatisfying answers. We grow up and realise the ‘answers’ we were given don’t satisfy – (broccoli doesn’t make you clever, I’ve eaten heaps so I know). When answers don’t satisfy we either keep asking ‘why’ or, we give up in despair.

Jesus also asked ‘why?’ Why did God forsake Jesus? God spoke publicly and said about Jesus, ‘This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.’ What put God off Jesus so quickly? If Jesus asks ‘why’, then its understandable that us little people also ask ‘why?’

We only really ask the ‘why’ question when we’re suffering. Few people look down at their healthy legs, or their arms that move as they please and ask, ‘why?’ We only really ask ‘why’ when we suffer.

If physical matter is all there is then the ‘why’ question makes no sense. But, why do we ask ‘why’ if matter is all there is? Animals suffer and don’t ask why. Like the child refusing his broccoli, once you’ve piled up enough ‘whys’ on top of each other, eventually you run out of answers. This is why Science, that most noble pursuit, must confine itself to ‘how’. Science is brilliant at answering ‘how’ questions. When it comes to ‘why’ questions, ultimately, only God can answer every single ‘why’ question all the way to the top of the pile.

God hasn’t give us every answer to every ‘why’ question, but God has answered the most important answer of them all: it will be worth it in the end. Joy follows weeping. Joy lasts a lifetime. Weeping comes at night. It is short. Its ugly and dark. But, just like the way God designed this planet, the sun comes up every morning. Joy follows weeping – only if, only if the sun comes up!

Jesus Christ hung on the cross in darkness forsaken by God asking ‘why’. Three days later the Son rose up again. Out of death’s darkness, Jesus rose again starting a new creation where weeping is abolished.

Today, people who weren’t even born back then are being told about God’s righteousness. We deserve to stay in the darkness of weeping forever. But He has done it! Jesus died bearing God’s anger in our place for the night. Because of Jesus, God’s favour now lasts forever. The sun has risen never to set again.