Godly Sorrow (2)

What is godly sorrow? With every sorrow there is a missing. A husband has sorrow when he misses his wife; a sick person has sorrow when he misses his health. With godly sorrow, a person experiences that he is missing God.

This sorrow concerns the sorrow after God, for His favor, for His communion. It is not a seeking of prosperity, or of the world, not even for heaven. It concerns God. It is a sorrow because I have lost God. It becomes the most important question in my life how I might receive God for my portion. This sorrow drives a person out toward God. It concerns God Himself. Psalm 42 can make clear what lives in the heart, “My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God?”

Sorrow and love

Contained in this sorrow there is also a sincere sorrow of heart over sin. That brings us to the essential matter which concerns godly sorrow. Sorrow is closely aligned with love. We can sometimes come to a funeral where there is no sorrow. Why is that? Well, it is because the deceased was not known or was not a loved one. Sorrow and mourning are closely connected with love. In conversion, the love of God is poured out in the heart. Then one receives an eye for the fact that God not only is worthy to be served and feared but also that the Lord is of great mercy and that He has never done any wrong. There comes an affinity toward God, the highest and eternal good. The heart in which the love of God is poured out suffers pain because of sin because one has committed so much evil against so much good. We could call this “sorrowing love,” and that is why the heart burns within us. Then there are not only outward tears (which can also be tears of self-love and self-pity, for there are so many tears shed which never flow into God’s bottle) but there are many more tears of the soul.

How does this sorrow come about?

Prof. G. Wisse, in his booklet Godly Sorrow, asks, “This godly sorrow, from whence does it proceed?” He then answers as follows, “It proceeds from the feeling and realization of being without God. This, in turn, occurs when the love of God is poured out into our hearts. When God displays Himself so manifestly and powerfully in and to us, we come to the stirring awakening that God is the true and holy God, worthy of all love. The soul then perceives that she is not only far from God, but indeed without Him. She feels herself separated from God. At the same time, since God through His regenerating operations is most powerful, she cannot be without Him nor wishes to be. This brings a stirring sorrow, a sustained impression and persuasion, a sense of emptiness; in short, a disposition of the soul that is the clearest manifestation of sorrow.”

Calvin explains it so strikingly in his Commentary on 2 Corinthians 7:10: “Sorrow according to God is that which has an eye to God, while they reckon it the one misery—to have lost the favor of God; when impressed with the fear of His judgment, they mourn over their sins.”

They are, to say it with the words of Isaiah 66:2b, the “poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at My Word.” What is their greatest misery? Calvin says that they have lost the favor of God. That is to say, that they miss God and the light of His gracious countenance. In the heart of such sorrowing ones, Question 12 of the Heidelberg Catechism becomes lively, “Is there no way by which we may escape that punishment, and again be received into favor?” Then it concerns itself especially with the last part, to again be restored into God’s favor and communion.

Humbling

It is also a sorrow which deeply humbles us. Here, the Lord becomes so great, so amiable, so worthy to be served and feared. Here, I become so small because I have sinned against God. Even though our eyes would be a fountain of tears, we could not sorrow enough because of our sins. “Against Thee, Thee only, have I sinned” (Psalm 51:4a). With this sorrow we learn to see ourselves as condemnable and miserable, outside of Christ and His communion, as objects of His wrath.

There is a continuance in this condition. The Lord uncovers us regarding all of our sinful actions wherewith we have transgressed in deeds, words, and thoughts. The Lord uncovers us to the filthy root of sin which lies deep in our heart, wherefrom the filth of our sins flows out. The Lord uncovers us to the cause of sin in Paradise; we begin to experience that we were created perfect by the hand of God but that we have freely and willfully left the Lord. Then we no longer find any reason to minimize our sins because here even our best works become sin before God. In this manner we come to the hearty confession of our sins before God.

(To be continued)

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