Joseph from Atlanta writes in to ask about James 4 specifically verses 9 and 10, which

read, be miserable and mourn and weep, let your laughter be turned into mourning and your

joy to gloom, humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord and He will exalt you."

Joseph asks, it seems rather explicit that James is saying to not be joyful.

Pastor John in light of this text, are there times when the pursuit of joy in God isn't

the chief goal in every season of life or are the two cohesive?

Oh, that's a sharp observation. I love questions like that. Anything that helps me take my Christian

hedonism deeper to wrestle with seeming contradictions is just great. So here we have, how can you

say seek to be happy in God, Piper, and at the same time with the text say, be wretched,

mourn, weep, let your joy be turned to gloom. That's the opposite of be happy, isn't it?

Let your joy be turned to gloom. So let me just stay with the text. I don't think it's good

to run away from text that feel problematical. Just stay with them. So verse 4, he's talking

to people who are adulterous. He says, you adulterous is, it's a feminine, really. You adulterous

is, don't you know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? So he's talking

to people who are finding their joy by using God as their so-called husband to get the

money and go out and make friends with the world. They're making a cuckold out of God.

Cheating on him. And that's the people that are being spoken to.

Verse 6, God opposes the proud. It gives grace to the humbles. He's talking to proud people.

Verse 8, cleanse your hands. You sinners purify your heart. You double-minded. That's back

up with these adulterous people. They got half the time they're in bed with God and half

the time they're in bed with the world. They're double-minded. So that's the context when

he says, let your laughter be turned to mourning. This is not wholesome laughter. This is not

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