Rejoicing is a Christian duty and privilege. In fact, it is to be a perpetual ornament of the character of every believer in Christ Jesus. “Rejoice in the Lord always”, says Paul to the Philippians in chapter 4:4 of that epistle, “and again I say, rejoice!” And there is much for us to be joyful about, is there not? Are your sins forgiven? Rejoice! Do you know the Lord? Rejoice! Joy is the fuel of Christian living. “The joy of the Lord is your strength (Neh. 8:10).”

But while joy is to undergird all we are and do, nevertheless there is a time and place for sighing. In fact, God told Ezekiel to do so. “Sigh therefore, son of man, with a breaking heart, and sigh with bitterness before their eyes (Ezekiel 21:7).”

Sigh? Breaking heart? What was going on that would evoke such a command?

To put it simply: disobedience. God’s people were not acting like God’s people. They were living like unbelievers. There was little regard for the holiness of God’s name, little attention paid to the importance of true worship, ignoring of God’s holy day, sexual immorality, violence, and selfishness. For these things the Lord was going to bring punishment on His people. And for these things Ezekiel was to sigh.

What about you and I? Is there any place for sighing in our lives? Have we nothing to sigh over? Several things occur to me that are definitely worth sighing about today.

My Sin

First, my own sin. Yeah, in case you didn’t know, I’m a sinner. Saved. Forgiven. But still a sinner and tempted just like you are. Sometimes (it feels like LOTS of times) I fail. And these things can and do cause me to sigh. It is a good sign of spiritual health that our hearts are broken over our sin. “The Lord is near those with a broken heart (Psalm 34:18).

The Lost

Second, the lost. I’m sure you have friends or family members who don’t know Jesus. They are living quite happily without him. But if we truly believe that a final day of judgment is coming, how can we not sigh over this? Jesus did. He wept of unbelieving Jerusalem.

Shallow Christian Living

Finally, the many who go to church, love to call themselves Christians, but show no real fruit of born-again obedience in their lives. Their faith is shallow at best. Worship attendance is always at the mercy of some sporting event, birthday party, or home project. They show up for church, but would never dream of actually volunteering their time to help in any significant way. They keep their faith low key, so that nobody would ever suspect them of being a Christian. This should make us sigh as well.

Friends. The point of this post is not to be a wet blanket on true Christian joy. Rejoice! Sing! Worship! But we should also ensure there is a proper place for sighing in our hearts as well. “Sigh therefore, son of man, with a breaking heart, and sigh with bitterness before their eyes.”