November 29 Daily Devotional

Bible Reading

2 Corinthians 7:8–10

Devotional

Surely all of us know what sorrow is. Tears of sorrow and grief are shed daily in this world. Everyone has his hands full as he bears his own cross of sorrow. And we do not even mention the grief that others do not know about. That is a hidden sorrow borne in loneliness. Yet there is a great difference between sorrow and godly sorrow. All sorrow is not a sorrow after God. There is also a sorrow after the world. That is a sorrow which has tears that can be dried with matters of this world. That was how Rachel’s sorrow was. She was so sorrowful that she refused to be comforted, because she had no children. Give children to Rachel and her sorrow is gone.

The sorrow after God is different. In this sorrow there can be a thousand sorrows and still there is only one real sorrow, and that is the sorrow after God. Job lost much. But in all this loss, he actually lost only one matter, for he groaned, “Where is God my maker, who giveth songs in the night” (Job 35:10)? Godly sorrow cannot be comforted with earthly matters. Tears of the soul can only be dried by the Lord Himself. This sorrow has an address to which it is directed, and that address lies above this world. In all sorrow there is emptiness, a missing of something. Only God Himself can fill this emptiness.

Godly sorrow is not a sorrow after heaven. It does not ask for heaven; it asks for God. Even if you would say to him who sorrows for God that he would escape the punishment of sin, and that on his deathbed he would have nothing to fear, then still this sorrow would not be removed. Because those who have a godly sorrow do not only need a God in order to die, but they also need a God to be able to live.

Godly sorrow is a sorrow caused by being without God and still it cannot be without Him. It is a sorrow that cannot let go of God. Those who sorrow in this way would rather perish at the feet of God than leave the throne of God’s grace. Theirs is a sorrow that they will not exchange for all the happiness of the world. Theirs is a sorrow that works repentance, not to be repented of, because the sorrow after God is at the same time a sorrow concerning themselves. They have sorrow because of sin, and when sin starts to hurt, they cannot continue in their own way. They then return as a prodigal son, with loathing of sin, realizing their own misery, and with a concrete turning to God.

A sorrow that does not work out repentance to salvation not to be repented of has never been a sorrow after God. There can be much complaining in our lives, but the question for us is: “Where does all this sorrow bring us?” Between this sorrow and salvation God’s Word clearly places the way of repentance. That is the fruit of true sorrow. True sorrow leads to repentance in one’s life, for the first time or by renewal.

 

From The Everlasting Word by Frans Bakker, compiled and translated by Gerald R. Procee. Reformation Heritage Books and Free Reformed Publications, 2007. Used by permission. For further information, click here.