The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth.
Ecclesiastes 7:4
Recommended Reading: Psalm 119:67
Randy Alcorn is well-known for his writing on heaven and eternity. However, after his wife died of cancer, the knowledge that she is in heaven waiting for him hasn’t minimized the fact that he misses her deeply. Of this time of grief, he says, “The Lord has—through the process of grief—restored me to a place of being able to…write again, to be able to do things again.”1
The lessons “in the house of mourning” are always the deepest. When Jesus faced death, He said, “Nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done” (Luke 22:42). Everyone who has suffered, especially in the “house of mourning,” knows that lessons are learned in that “house” that cannot be learned elsewhere—especially not in a party house. It is only in difficult days that the reality of Romans 8:28 hits home—that God is able to cause all things to work together for good.
Embrace the hard times God allows you to experience. Embrace them as wise teachers that will take you deeper into God’s sufficiency.
Death is the foreshadowing of life. We die that we may die no more.
Thomas Hooker
- Joy Lucius, “Randy Alcorn on Life, Grief, & Hope,” Eternal Perspective Ministries, July 14, 2025.
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