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“Is it wrong to be pessimistic?”

The New Testament epistles have much to say about Christian joy. Paul mentions it six times in each of 2 Corinthians and Philippians, and five times in 1 Thessalonians. Our joy is one of the ways the world know we are different. Peter, John, Jude, the writer to the Hebrews and even grumpy old James mention joy too. By my count, that’s every NT letter. Joy should characterize the Christian life.

Of course, joy is not mere optimism. It’s far more than that.

The Downside of Optimism

The world knows how to be optimistic. One of my relatives has imbibed the “think positive and succeed” philosophy. Whenever he gets into a tough situation, he tells himself, “It’s alright. This will be fine. It’s going to work out.” He genuinely believes his attitude can change outcomes. One can only sustain that view of the world by avoiding paying close attention. Any sort of regular post-game analysis identifies numerous occasions on which the thing we hoped for did not come about, no matter how enthusiastically we anticipated success. Once in a while, the thing we dreaded most happened instead. The chronic optimist is thus in denial of reality.

Christians who are relentlessly positive in other people’s bad situations can be exceedingly irritating. It feels like they are trivializing pain instead of being an encouragement. Joy is a quiet strength and the ability to keep one’s eyes on the end of the road. It’s not happy-clappy bubbliness and exuberance, though there are certainly times when a celebratory spirit is appropriate: a new conversion, a baptism, watching someone go on faithfully for the Lord. There’s a reason we are told to rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep.

The Downside of Pessimism

Optimists are often wrong, but that doesn’t mean pessimism is preferable. The world also knows how to be pessimistic in ways that are entirely unprofitable. I have one unsaved friend who can tell you what will probably go wrong with every new development she hears about and why every conceivable relationship and project will eventually fail. It almost goes without saying that she is reliably incorrect about half the time, not to mention a seriously wet blanket.

Christians looking at the world have cause to mourn. That’s just realistic. But the Lord doesn’t leave us there. “Happy are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.” Scripture gives us a glimpse of the resolution of all things. For those who love the Lord, every tear will one day be wiped away. That’s reason to find a silver lining in every cloud, because God is working toward our ultimate good even when our immediate present is sorrowful and challenging in the extreme.

Good and Bad

As to pessimism in particular, there are good and bad sorts of pessimism. The vocal sort, as I have suggested, is usually unprofitable. We cannot know what the future will hold. Predicting the worst will not help anyone, and it may be deeply discouraging.

Personally, I find a quiet, internalized pessimism useful, but I try not to inflict it on others. There is a measure of truth in the adage that if you expect the worst you will never be disappointed. Over a decade ago now, I went through a period of chronic illness that was severely debilitating. I found myself (not unreasonably) contemplating what this might mean for the future: restricted functionality, unemployment and other major changes to my life. I had to ask myself, “Can I get through that with the Lord’s help if I have to? Would life still be worth living if I couldn’t do a lot of things I can do now?” The answer was a firm yes. I felt then, and still feel today, that it was better to deal with those possibilities in my own head before the Lord rather than keep telling myself “It’ll be fine.” It might not have been. Is that pessimism or simply being realistic?

I had a friend who took the opposite tack when diagnosed with cancer and given two years to live. He was convinced the Lord would cure him right up until the last days of his life. That probably made him cheerier company during his illness than he might have been otherwise, but his refusal to look at his situation objectively and consider all the possibilities left his estate in a mess when he went to be with the Lord. It was a happy ending, but not the one he was originally looking for.

Turn, Turn, Turn

Much of what we find in Ecclesiastes must be taken with a grain of salt and moderated by the rest of scripture. The book was written from the point of view of a man “under the sun” in the absence of revelation from God. Nevertheless, Solomon’s advice that “there is a time for everything”, including “a time to weep and a time to laugh; a time to mourn and a time to dance”, is very much on point.

For Christians, wisdom is in knowing which is which, and in taking the appropriate attitude in each situation.