The flower of life that grows out of the hard soil of sorrowing over sin || John Pesebre

Many years ago, King George VI of England addressed the British commonwealth on New Year’s Eve at a moment in history when the whole world stood on the brink of uncertainty. Despondency and uncertainty filled the air. The king’s own body was racked by cancer. Before that year was over, his life ended.

Unaware of his own physical maladies, he uttered these memorable words:

I said to the man at the gate of the year, "Give me a light that I might walk safely into the unknown.’ And he said to me, ’Go out into the darkness, and put your hand into the hand of God. It shall be to you safer than the light and better than the known."*

When true believers sorrow for their sin, the biblical description is not very amusing. Without proper teaching, one might think that the Bible is all for despondency. Despondency means your spirit hits rock-bottom because you just simply lost hope and courage to move on. It is true that God wants us to walk through the valley of this shadow of death, much like King George VI above. But God's action is always gracious to His children. This grace gives breath when we are choking in darkness. It is the same grace that means life is up ahead.

It is how it is when God tutors you to godly sorrow.

The Puritan Thomas Watson gives us Scriptural gems to reflect about sorrow for sin --

[I]t is a holy agony. It is called in scripture a breaking of the heart: "The sacrifices of God are a broken and a contrite heart" (Psalm 51:17); and a rending of the heart: "Rend your heart" (Joel 2:13). The expressions of smiting on the thigh (Jer. 31:19), beating on the breast (Luke 18:13), putting on of sackcloth (Isaiah 22:12), plucking off the hair (Ezra 9:3), all these are but outward signs of inward sorrow. †

This however must not be the end-all-be-all of sorrow. Paul says, "Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation (2 Corinthians 7:10).

Sorrow for sin is a doorway to healing. When one is broken, one has to be made whole. Psychology Today chimes in,

The word ‘healing' can be taken to mean, 'Making whole again'; and, to be wounded and made whole again, in addition to restoration, usually means growth.‡

This hope or anticipation of healing in times of sorrow must be a natural flow of the heart for a believer -- just as a river would fight its way to the sea despite the many obstacles it faces along the way. A believer yearns for the Sea that draws him. God's actions are always gracious to His children, He draws them near -- "surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life" (Psalm 23:6; emphasis added). "The LORD is near to the brokenhearted And saves those who are crushed in spirit." (Psalm 34:18).

The Puritan Robert Leighton puts that Christian hope as a demonstration of wisdom in the believer when he said --

But this is the wisdom of a Christian, when he can solace himself against the meanness and any kind of discomfort of his outward condition, with the comfortable assurance of the love of God, that He has called him to holiness, given him some measure of it, and an endeavor after more; and by this may he conclude, that He has ordained him unto salvation.§ (emphasis added)

Godly sorrow maintains a godly disposition (i.e., "a person's inherent qualities of mind and character). What I mean by "godly disposition" is the kind of sorrow, again, that progresses towards repentance and life --

Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret (2 Corinthians 7:10)

The typical Filipino disposition is to stay in sorrow and be despondent. Such is the condition a Christian must truly avoid. There are tears of despondency as well as tears of godly sorrow. If you want to cry or wail over your mistakes, cry na mayroon kang godly sorrow patungo sa repentance at pag asa ng pagliligtas ng Panginoon. Ika nga ng sumulat ng Awit 73

When my heart was grieved
and my spirit embittered,
I was senseless and ignorant;
I was a brute beast before you.
Yet I am always with you;
you hold me by my right hand.
You guide me with your counsel,
and afterward you will take me into glory.
Whom have I in heaven but you?
And earth has nothing I desire besides you.
My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart
and my portion forever.

Watson provides us three anchors to think about sorrow for our sin and how to have thoughts with a godly disposition. He wants us to think about this sorrow so as --

 (1) To make Christ precious. O how desirable is a Savior to a troubled soul! Now Christ is Christ indeed—and mercy is mercy indeed. Until the heart is full of sorrow for sin—it is not fit for Christ. How welcome is a surgeon—to a man who is bleeding from his wounds! 

(2) To drive out sin. Sin breeds sorrow—and sorrow kills sin! Holy sorrow purges out the evil humours of the soul. It is said that the tears of vine-branches are good to cure the leprosy. However that may be, it is certain that the tears which drop from the penitential eye, will cure the leprosy of sin. The saltwater of tears—kills the worm of conscience. 

(3) To make way for solid comfort. "Those who sow in tears shall reap in joy" (Psalm 126:5). The penitent has a wet sowing-time—but a delicious harvest. Repentance breaks the abscess of sin—and then the soul is at ease! Hannah, after weeping, went away and was no longer sad (1 Sam. 1:18). God's troubling of the soul for sin, is like the angel's troubling of the pool (John 5:4), which made way for healing. [emphasis added] ║

The Islamic writer Kahlil Gibran penned these beautiful words in his book The Prophet --

Your joy is your sorrow unmasked. And the selfsame well from which your laughter rises was oftentimes filled with your tears. And how else can it be? The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain. ¶

Sorrow you may, but put your hand into the hand of God.

-------------------
* entire anecdote taken from  Rave Zacharias, "If the Foundations Be Destroyed," Preaching Today, Tape No. 142.

† Thomas Watson, Doctrine of Repentance

‡ Larry Culliford, "Sorrow: A Valuable Emotion," Psychology Today,  accessed at https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/spiritual-wisdom-secular-times/201201/sorrow-valuable-emotion

§ Robert Leighton, A Practical Commentary upon the First Epistle of Peter

║ Thomas Watson, Doctrine of Repentance

¶ Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet