Charles Ellicott Commentary James 4:9

"Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness." — James 4:9 (ASV)

Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep.—For wretchedness, sorrow, and tears are the three steps of the path home to peace and God. And as proof of real conversion, there must be outward lamentation as well as inward contrition. Grieve, therefore, with a godly sorrow not to be repented of (2 Corinthians 7:10)—the remorseful anguish of a Peter, and not a Judas. Let the foolish laughter at sin, which was as the crackling of thorns before the avenging fire (Ecclesiastes 7:6), be turned to mourning; banish the joyous smile for a face downcast with heaviness, and so await the blessedness of those who mourn (Matthew 5:4), even the promised comfort of God.