Joy for Mourning
Sermon by Pastor Peter Lui
27 September 2026
Scripture: Isaiah 61:1–3
Life can change without asking our permission.
Pastor Peter begins with the story of Joni Eareckson Tada, whose life changed dramatically after a diving accident as a teenager left her quadriplegic. The active young woman who entered the water with a future filled with possibilities emerged facing life in a wheelchair.
Her journey was not an instant story of triumph. There was anger, resentment, depression and hopelessness. Yet over time, she discovered that God’s grace could produce joy even when the circumstances producing her tears had not disappeared.
Her story introduces an important truth:
When circumstances change, God does not change.
Biblical joy is not the assurance that nothing painful will ever happen to us. It is the conviction that whatever happens, God is still with us.
Drawing from Isaiah 61:1–3, Pastor Peter describes what he calls God’s great divine exchange:
Beauty instead of ashes.
Joy instead of mourning.
Praise instead of despair.
When life gives us what we never expected, God gives us what our circumstances can never provide.
God’s Presence in Our Pain
Isaiah spoke to people who understood ashes, mourning and despair.
Yet into their brokenness came God’s promise to bring good news to the poor, bind up the brokenhearted, set captives free and comfort those who mourn.
Around 700 years later, Jesus entered a synagogue in Nazareth and read from this very passage. He then declared:
“Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”
Pastor Peter reminds us that the answer to Isaiah 61 is not merely a principle or teaching.
The answer is a Person: Jesus Christ.
God’s presence meets us in our brokenness. To “bind up” the brokenhearted carries the picture of bandaging a wound. God does not ignore our wounds or pretend they do not exist. He sees them and draws near to heal.
His presence also meets us in our bondage.
We can become prisoners of anxiety and the endless “what ifs” of life.
What if I fail?
What if things become worse?
What if I do not have enough?
What if God does not come through?
Jesus reminds us not to be consumed by tomorrow. We may not know what tomorrow holds, but we can trust the One who holds tomorrow.
And when we do not understand what God is doing, sometimes all that is required is mustard-seed faith:
Though I do not understand, yet I will rejoice.
Though the door has closed, yet I will rejoice.
Though tomorrow is unknown, yet I will rejoice.
Though my plans have changed, yet I will rejoice.
God’s Provision in Our Loss
Isaiah 61:3 contains three beautiful exchanges:
Beauty instead of ashes.
Joy instead of mourning.
A garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.
In biblical times, ashes represented grief, humiliation, calamity and mourning. Ashes were what remained after something had been burned and seemingly lost beyond recovery.
Yet God says, in effect:
Give Me your ashes.
God does not simply sweep them aside. He takes what appears ruined and offers beauty in exchange.
This does not mean Christians deny their pain.
Pastor Peter points to Paul’s words in 2 Corinthians 6:10: “Sorrowful, yet always rejoicing.”
Sorrow and joy can exist in the same heart.
We cry yet trust.
We grieve yet worship.
We hurt yet hope.
Joy does not mean the hurt never happened. It means hurt does not have to possess the final chapter of our story.
God can also bring purpose through painful transitions.
Isaiah says that those who once mourned would become “oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of His splendor.”
The people who once sat among ashes would eventually stand as a testimony to God’s work.
God does not merely want us to get through difficult seasons. He can help us grow through them.
What looks like a disruption may become something God uses to shape us. A painful transition does not need to become the full stop of our story. It may become the place where God begins writing another chapter. 27 Sept 2026
Praise to God in Our Despair
Isaiah then speaks of “a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.”
There are days when praise comes easily.
There are other days when praise becomes an act of faith.
Pastor Peter highlights three things praise does in difficult seasons.
First, praise redirects our focus.
Uncertainty tells us, “Look at your problem.”
Praise tells us, “Look at God.”
Like the psalmist in Psalm 42, we learn to speak to our own soul:
“Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise Him.”
Praise is a decision before it becomes an action.
Second, praise reframes our circumstances.
Paul and Silas were beaten, chained and imprisoned, yet at midnight they prayed and sang hymns to God.
Their chains were real, but their chains could not silence their worship.
Finally, praise restores our hope.
When we remember who God is and what He has done, we find strength to continue even when circumstances have not yet changed.
This is why Pastor Peter reminds us:
Circumstances change. God does not.
Plans change. God does not.
People change. God does not.
Seasons change. God does not.
When our joy is centred in the unchanging God, changing circumstances cannot destroy it.
The Great Exchange
Perhaps today you are holding ashes of your own.
Ashes of disappointment because something you hoped for did not happen.
Ashes of bereavement because someone you love is no longer beside you.
Ashes of failure because something you worked hard for has collapsed.
Ashes of transition because one chapter has closed and you do not know what the next chapter holds.
Ashes of fear because tomorrow feels uncertain.
Pastor Peter closes with a simple invitation:
Do not keep clutching those ashes.
Bring them to Jesus.
Bring Him your failed plans, unanswered prayers, losses and unknown tomorrows.
Isaiah 61 points us towards a Saviour who meets us in our pain, provides for us in our loss and gives us a reason to praise even in despair.
The pain may be real.
The tears may still come.
The circumstances may not immediately change.
But God has not changed.
His presence remains with us.
His grace remains sufficient.
His promises remain true.
And in His hands, mourning does not have to be the end of the story.
He offers us the great divine exchange:
Beauty for ashes.
Joy for mourning.
Praise for despair.
