The ratio of sorrow and joy.
I. THERE IS SUCH RATIO. Sorrow and joy are not flung down at haphazard into this world at the caprice of the Ruler of all, and irrespective one of the other, only that for the mass of men the sorrow is far greater and more pervading than the joy. But the relations between these two it is the glory of Scripture and of the gospel especially to reveal.
II. SCRIPTURE TEACHES IT. Here in this verse; cf. also Psalms 90:1-17; "Make us glad according to the days," etc.; Job 2:10, "Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not also receive evil?" parable of Dives and Lazarus: "Thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented" (Luke 16:1-31.).
III. NATURE ILLUSTRATES IT. It is said that on the Scotch lakes the depth of the lake is almost always the same as the height of the surrounding hills. And is it not the same with the great depths of ocean and the lofty mountains of the world? They have long, long winter in the Northern climes, but when the light does come back, the day so stretches out that you can read by the light of the midnight sun. And if we look into the faces of men, those indices of the soul within, it will be found that the looks of sorrow and of joy are about equally distributed. God is not a partial, unjust Father, petting one and neglecting others of his children. Sometimes we think so, but a larger survey will lead to truer thought.
IV. IT IS A TRUTH FULL OF COMFORT. For it teaches:
1. That if sorrow be sent, joy is not far off. "If I had been a little child among the Israelites, I think I should have known, when father set the bitter herbs upon the table, that the lamb was roasting somewhere, and would be set out too—'With bitter herbs shall ye eat it'—and so if there be bitter herbs, the dainty dish is near" (Spurgeon).
2. That the two come from the same hand. If there be a designed proportion then, not two independent minds are at work, but one only; ratio and proportion ever argue unity of mind. There is not an evil god who hurls sorrow upon men, and another a gracious God who sends only joy. That was the old Manichaean heresy, which is not dead yet. But the truth is that there is a likeness, a proportion between the good which God sends upon his people and the evil he has brought upon them. From one hand both come. But—
V. THE RATIO IS NOT EQUAL FOR THE CHILD OF GOD. "Our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory." The proportion of the evil we suffer to the good we shall enjoy is not that of equals, but that of the very little to the infinitely great.
VI. THE RELATIONSHIP ALSO IS THAT OF MOTHER AND CHILD. Sorrow is the mother of joy. Cf. our Lord's own metaphor: "A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour is come: but as soon as she is delivered of the child she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world." "Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning." Cf, also above: "Our light affliction … worketh for us," etc; so that joy is begotten of sorrow.
VII. BUT THIS CAN ONLY BE FOR THE CHILD OF GOD. Therefore—
"Help, Lord, that we may come
To thy saints' happy home,
Where a thousand years
As one day appears;
Nor go
Where one day appears
As a thousand years
For woe!"
C.