Godly Sorrow (3)

Because of the drawing love of the Lord, such a sorrowing one cannot let the Lord go. Jacob could not let go, the Canaanitish woman could not let go. All those who sorrow after God cannot let go, and they say with Job, “Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him” (Job 13:15a). All of Job’s misery could not take away his hope upon the Lord.

All of these sorrowing ones learn to despair of themselves but not of the Lord. That is why in their sorrowing condition they cling to the Lord by day and by night, for here there is no one who can comfort them; only God alone is able. People cannot help us here. Our feelings and our experiences cannot help us; only one thing can comfort us. That is the Lord Himself when He says, “I am thy salvation.” That is the true comfort when we have heard it out of His own mouth.

This sorrow causes us to turn away from all of our own strengths and abilities. These sorrowing ones cannot comfort themselves. God alone is able to comfort them. That is not a false passivity whereby thousands blame the Lord, but it is distress, distress of the soul. That is why they cannot let go of God, and cry unto Him by day and by night.

The fruits of Christ’s sorrow

There are people who are satisfied with their sorrow. They comfort themselves with their sorrow, and they consider themselves converted. They make their sorrow a foundation for eternity, but does sorrow save a person? The foundation of salvation and of the true joy can only be found in Christ. If there is one who has been sorrowful, it has been Christ. He had to complain, “My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even unto death.” He was sorrowful because they had cast Him out and despised Him. He wept over Jerusalem. He was sorrowful because the disciples were displeased with Him, because the wrath of God burned in His mediatorial soul. He was sorrowful because of the depth of the forsaking of His Father into which He had sunk when He cried out, “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” He was also sorrowful because of the hellish terrors and the attacks of Satan.

If there has been one person who was truly sorrowful, then that was Christ. That sorrow toward God flows forth from Christ only. Jesus wept and that is why God’s children weep. Their tears toward God are the fruits of the tears of Jesus. That is why we must lose the ground or foundation of our sorrow in our tears and our weeping. They stand outside of the communion with God and outside of Christ. That is how God’s children learn to know themselves. They are so often troubled whether or not their tears are the evidence of true godly sorrow.

No rest outside of Christ

Still, it is important to emphasize that godly sorrow may not be detached from Christ. The danger otherwise becomes so prevalent that people begin to make a foundation of their tears and feelings of sorrow. Because this sorrow is the fruit of the work of Christ, this sorrow again drives a person out to Christ. It is a certain true mark if this sorrow has brought us by Christ. I know that it can be a long, difficult way of vexation and impossibilities before one is brought by the Saviour. These sorrowing ones cannot find rest other than in Christ only. Who will ever be able to fully fathom godly sorrow and to experience and bemoan the depths of sin? Here below it is always too short and too little.

Encouragements

Certainly, there are moments of hope in the lives of these sorrowing ones. When a word of the gospel shines into their darkened soul as a ray of light with power, then, at times, they may lift up their sorrowing head. If the possibility of being saved is uncovered unto them by means of the promises of the gospel, then there is opened unto them an unspeakable room. When the declarations of God’s love may fill their heart, then in spite of all the tears and sorrow, there may be tasted a wonderful joy in the Lord. Then it is so good to be near unto God (Psalm 73).

Those sorrowing ones begin to learn, however, that these encouragements are not yet Jesus Himself. It is only with Him that one’s tears can be wiped away, when He comes and takes away the burden of guilt from the shoulders, and where one’s shame and nakedness may be covered with the mantel of His mediatorial justice, and where one, in and through Christ, may see the friendly countenance of a reconciled God and Father.

(To be continued)

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