October 3, 2019 -- Psalm 119:28 -- Godly Sorrow
/My soul melts away for sorrow
strengthen me according to your word!
Psalm 119:28 English Standard Version
Sorrow is not always bad! It is an appropriate response for the Christian when his sins are revealed by the Spirit. The Spirit of God takes the Word of God and holds it up before each of us like a mirror. We are made aware of the beauty of God our Father’s instructions and we realize how we are running from His good Word. This reflects the ugliness of our hearts. Sorrow is an appropriate response.
When the believer has sinned against God by sinning against others—gossip, murderous anger, lust and disparaging the success of others—when we as believers begin to grasp the gravity of such sins and by them how we are destroying community this should cause us godly sorrow.
The believer experiences sorrow over the wickedness of governments and institutions, the callousness of the stock market and evidences of injustice in our courts. Our souls truly melt with sorrow—we can find ourselves seated in a puddle of tears.
Perhaps we should learn to feel sorrow. Maybe our hearts are hard as stone and we are cold towards the Word of God. Maybe we read about sorrow as something completely foreign to us because we have accommodated ourselves to the world and find we are aligned with the world and out of step with the Word. How we need the Spirit to crack our hard exterior and flood us the awareness of our true condition
Yet the LORD our God does not leave us trapped in sorrows. He ears our prayers! He has provided the strengthen we need—Jesus Christ, Who has paid the debt for all our sins. He has removed our shame. He is the way in which broken community can be restored. As we confess our sins in true community we receive forgiveness. We hear the confessions of others and are strengthened and blessed by their words we in turn have the great honour of holding out forgiveness because of the work of Jesus.
Is this crazy? It seems so pie-in-the-sky unattainable and lofty! It is. It is the power of Jesus’ healing work which overturns the effects of the curse of Adam’s sin. We can live this way—deeply and beautifully. Jesus gives us His Spirit to live in us so that we can venture out, offering and receiving forgiveness.
In Isaiah we are taught that Jesus Christ is the Prince of Peace, of the increase of His government and rule there shall be no end. That should comfort and strengthen believers We are not at the mercy of whatever government or policy or court decisions are currently in vogue. Those who belong to Jesus are citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven. We live here confident in the promises of the Word that Jesus rules now at the Father’s right hand and is bringing righteousness and justice full and complete at His return. All wrongs—every single one of them—will be answered and His victory will be over all in through all. What glorious hope that gives us as believers.
Faithful follower of Jesus—grieve and sorrow over the sin you see. And plead the promise of this verse, that His strengthening will saturate our bones and our soul according to the promises of His Word! Helpful hint here: read the Word. Drink deeply of the promises you read there!
Earlier this psalmist taught us to pray: Open my eyes that I may behold wondrous things out of Your law^. We echo that prayer this morning, Sovereign King. Let the Word and all its strengthening promises revive our hope and lift us up from all our sorrows. God, Creator of true community, move among us as Christians so that we will set aside our pride and live as humble believers prepared to offer and receive healing forgiveness for the sake of the Name of Jesus. Amen.
^Psalm 119:18
