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There is a time for everything—a time to weep and a time to laugh” (Eccles. 3:1, 4).

“Weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning”(Ps. 30:5).

Recently I have had abundant reason to meditate on the relationship between weeping and laughter. My beloved wife of 53 years suddenly and unexpectedly went to be with the Lord. My first reaction was the greatest outburst of crying and sobbing that I have ever experienced, especially since I was hundreds of miles away when the Lord called her home.

Immediately my four children joined me, and we considered the next and future steps. After time at the side of Phyllis’ “earthly tabernacle,” we went out for dinner. There was the inevitable sadness and weeping. But as we remembered our family life and times we had enjoyed together, soon we began talking joyfully about Phyllis. We laughed uproariously as we shared stories of her happy spirit and sense of humor. Was this out of place? No, it was God’s gift of emotions, both the tears and the laughter.

I recalled a night in the jungles of Ecuador in 1956. My brother-in-law Jim Elliot and his four companions had been murdered by the Waodani Indians. I sat with the five widows one evening as they talked about their husbands. We began telling stories about them and were soon laughing heartily. Marj Saint later credited me with starting the laughter and emphasized how healing this laughter was for all of us.

In 1970 I directed InterVarsity’s first summer outreach program to Costa Rica. We led 50 students on Overseas Training Camp. One day on a picnic at the Pacific Ocean with his small group, a student drowned. Despite the heroic rescue efforts of staff member Ron Kernaghan, his body was lost forever.

The next day I sat with the student’s small group as they tried to process the event. In that time of emotional heaviness and tears, we began to reminisce and soon we were laughing uncontrollably. Again it was a much needed relief.

“But,” you may ask, “I thought World Pulse was about world missions? Why all this talk about weeping and laughter? What does this have to do with missions?” A great deal. There is a much closer connection than I had realized between laughter and missions. Consider the following passages.

• “The One enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord scoffs at them—‘I have installed my King on Zion, my holy hill’” (Ps. 2:4, 6).

• “The Lord laughs at the wicked, for he knows their day is coming” (Ps. 37:13).

• “But you, O Lord, laugh at them; you scoff at all those nations. Then it will be known to the ends of the earth that God rules over Jacob”(Ps. 59:8, 13).

• “When the LORD brought back the captives to Zion, we were like men who dreamed. Our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with songs of joy.

Then it was said among the nations, ‘The LORD has done great things for them.’ The LORD has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy” (Ps. 126:1-3).

Today as God’s missionaries from and to all nations go out “weeping, carrying seeds to sow,” often in places of bitter opposition, disappointment and trials, they have the assurance that God laughs. He who is sovereign and who will bring all nations to his feet, will help them “return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with them” (Ps. 126:6).

What a marvelous promise for all who pour out tears over the souls of men and women of all nations! The day will come when we will join God in his laughter, for he “has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy.”

David Howard is former president of Latin America Mission.