Godly Sorrow

"Now I rejoice, not that you were made sorry, but that your sorrow led to repentance. For you were made sorry in a godly manner, that you might suffer loss from us in nothing. ¹⁰ For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death."

2 Corinthians 7:9-10

Paul previously wrote a letter that identified and rebuked sin the Corinthian church, and it resulted in godly sorrow that lead them to repent of their sin, an eagerness to clear themselves of all wrongdoing, longing for reconciliation before God and man, and swift readiness to do justly.  From Paul's words it follows there is a sorrow that falls short of repentance, a worldly sorrow that produces death.  We see this sort of worldly sorrow in Judas after he betrayed Jesus.

During the Passover feast in Jerusalem, Judas secretly met with priests and covenanted to deliver Jesus into their hand at a convenient time and was paid 30 pieces of silver.  As promised, Judas brought the religious rulers with temple guards to Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane where He was arrested.  It seems Judas was not fully aware of the murderous scheme of the Pharisees and priests to deliver Jesus to the Romans who sentenced Him to be crucified.  Matthew 27:3-5 reads, "Then Judas, His betrayer, seeing that He had been condemned, was remorseful and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, ⁴ saying, "I have sinned by betraying innocent blood." And they said, "What is that to us? You see to it!" ⁵ Then he threw down the pieces of silver in the temple and departed, and went and hanged himself."  Judas experienced sorrowful pangs of guilt and acknowledged he had sinned.  Yet we do not see him repent at all for his greed, deceit and hypocrisy:  he imagined if he admitted he was wrong and returned the silver, he could off his guilt.

When the religious rulers refused to receive the silver from his hand, Judas threw it into the temple and went and hung himself--a physical demonstration of a spiritual reality.  Admitting he had sinned, his attempt to return the silver, and the experience deep sorrow did not lead to repentance because Judas did not sorrow in a godly manner.  To commit sin is to make a covenant with death we cannot escape or ignore; nothing we do can undo the evil we have done.  Because Judas only sorrowed in a worldly fashion--without faith in the goodness, grace, redemption and forgiveness freely offered by the living God--his focus was on himself, his wrongs, awful feelings and the bad situation he helped create.  Judas showed admission of sin can stop short of humbling self before God and then he played God by choosing to end his life.  When he could have fallen down before God broken for his sin with tears, he likely wept over his sorrow as he strung himself up.

Judas nursed great regret he could not escape by admitting his sin or trying to set things right by returning the silver.  It was not suicide that prevented him from entering into eternal life (for God forgives murderers who repent and trust in Him) but his refusal to humble himself by faith in repentance before God when he sorrowed for sin.  Sorrowing for sin in a godly manner that leads to repentance is something to rejoice over, for there is hope in God who imputes righteousness to humble sinners who repent.  We cannot right our wrongs by depth of sorrow, admitting our guilt or returning the proceeds of our crimes:  it is by casting our pride, sorrows and ourselves at the feet of our Saviour Jesus Christ in repentance, trusting He will forgive all by the power of the Gospel of grace.  Praise the LORD for the assurance God gives to believers in 1 John 1:9:  "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

The Hair Reminder

The words of Jesus contain great wisdom from God Himself and insight.  In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus told His disciples in Matthew 5:33-37:  "Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform your oaths to the Lord.' ³⁴ But I say to you, do not swear at all: neither by heaven, for it is God's throne; ³⁵ nor by the earth, for it is His footstool; nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. ³⁶ Nor shall you swear by your head, because you cannot make one hair white or black. ³⁷ But let your 'Yes' be 'Yes,' and your 'No,' 'No.' For whatever is more than these is from the evil one."  After receiving the Law of Moses that commanded Hebrews to keep their oaths, what developed was people felt obligated to speak truthfully only when they swore an oath.  Some made their honesty contingent on the perceived worthiness of what they swore upon and thus justified breaking their oaths!  Jesus taught man ought to speak the truth without swearing on anything.  He does not swear falsely who does not swear at all.

Tucked away in the middle of this paragraph is an important observation:  "...you cannot make one hair white or black."  Jesus is not referring to our ability (or inability!) to dye our hair black or white.  We can dye our hair any colour of the rainbow or shave off all our hair, but the point Jesus made is we do not have the power to choose or change our "natural" colour.  As people age it is common to dye hair to cover up the grey, and others who are balding may shave it short or completely bald.  It isn't long before dyed or shaved hair grows back, and we have no power in ourselves to change the natural colour of a single hair.

In contrast to our powerlessness, the LORD God Who created us reigns and rules over all people.  It is His sovereign choice to fashion each one of us in the womb and made us male or female, gave us facial features, bone structure, and He determined our hair and eye colour.  While we might attempt to cover, hide, or change these things, it is God who created us as it pleased Him.  No hair dye, hair cut, clothing, name change or surgical procedure can fundamentally change who we are before God.  Amazingly, the opportunity exists for everyone to become a new creation by faith in Jesus Christ, by surrendering our lives before our Creator and Saviour and being born again through the Gospel.  We have no power to make one hair white or black, but in Christ we are given the power to speak truth and walk accordingly.

Everything we say is before the sovereign LORD who hears and knows all, and He also knows the thoughts and intents of our hearts.  Perjury is a grave crime in a courtroom punishable by law, and God is the One who judges us, whether our 'Yes' was 'Yes' and our 'No' was 'No.'  We can cover up our grey hair or dye our few remaining dark hair silver, but we cannot hide a word before God.  It is good for us before we go to the judgment seat of Christ to confess our lies and deceit and repent, thus receiving forgiveness from our Saviour and choose to speak honestly and sincerely.  We have no power to change what we have already said, but every hair on our bodies provides a reminder of our divine call to speak truth going forward as God does.

Redeemer in Command

It is good for the child of God to realise we never are at the mercy of our enemies but our awesome heavenly Father.  An overwhelming trial or situation never puts us beyond God's help and perfect peace.  When the ground shakes under our feet or we start to lose our balance, we instinctively grasp at a handrail or something we know to be solid and can bear weight to stay upright.  Trials test us to see if we will run to and reach for the Rock of our salvation in our desperate state or give place to despair in unbelief.

Many times in the history of the nation of Israel their enemies had the upper hand.  Due to sin, idolatry or for God's good purposes not explained to us, Israel was oppressed and the people lived in fear.  The book of Judges has a repetitive theme of people doing what was right in their own eyes, forsaking God and His statutes, and then falling into the hands of their enemies to chasten them back to the LORD.  When they cried out to God in due time He raised up a deliverer from among His people to deliver them.  Even in God's punishment by the hand of heathen people He retained all rule--even over their enemies.

Consider the words of Deborah the prophetess in Judges 4:6-7:  "Then she sent and called for Barak the son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali, and said to him, "Has not the LORD God of Israel commanded, 'Go and deploy troops at Mount Tabor; take with you ten thousand men of the sons of Naphtali and of the sons of Zebulun; ⁷ and against you I will deploy Sisera, the commander of Jabin's army, with his chariots and his multitude at the River Kishon; and I will deliver him into your hand'?"  There is no question Sisera thought he had the upper hand over Israel with his 900 chariots of iron, but it was God who would deploy this enemy of Israel to his own destruction.  The NIV says God would "lure" Sisera.  Sisera proudly imagined himself to be the apex predator, but he was like a fish with a hook through the jaw by the God of Israel.  It wasn't long before his army was completely destroyed and he was dead in Jael's tent, head pinned to the ground with a tent stake driven through his temple.

In His wisdom God used Sisera to chasten His people back to faith and obedience to God, and in due time brought Sisera's brutal, oppressive ways to an end.  This same principle applies in the spiritual realm as well, for Satan cannot overcome God's wisdom and ways.  One day he will be destroyed forever, and we ought to rejoice in our Saviour more than his demise.  We do well to believe and proclaim what Paul did in Romans 8:28:  "And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose."  Oppressive enemies are not good; nagging illness, lack of sleep and severe conditions are not pleasant.  Spiritual attacks are terrible in themselves, but all these are easily redeemed by our awesome God who causes them to accomplish His good purposes for His people He loves and keeps as the apple of His eye.  Praise the LORD for His grace and faithfulness to us always.

Time of War and Peace

Wise Solomon observed in Ecclesiastes 3:8 there is "...a time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace."  With spiritual insight we see love and hate, while seemingly opposites, can exist at the same time and even compliment one another.  Due to active love of God within us, a child of God chooses to hate sin and every evil way.  Even in the midst of conflict, the one who trusts God can experience perfect peace by faith in Jesus Christ.  But the point Solomon made is spelled out in Ecclesiastes 3:1:  "To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven...".  God has good purposes and plans He accomplishes in every season of life, and we can have confidence He knows what He is doing.

It may seem strange to think in this wonderful world created by God there would be a time for hate and war.  Yet this is not at all odd when we realise and acknowledge we live in a world of sin where people are always at war with God:  hating Him, slandering and opposing Him, filled with malice and bigoted against Him.  Because God is righteous, He cannot and will not make peace or be united with sin He hates.  Sin is altogether contrary to Him and destroys life He created to be good, separating souls eternally from His presence.  Jesus died on the cross and rose form the grave to defeat sin and death, and one day God will also wage war upon and destroy all sinners as the righteous Judge and KING OF KINGS that He is.

Judges 3:1-4 explains reasons why God allowed the children of Israel to experience conflict and warfare, and relates to the born-again children of God today:  "Now these are the nations which the LORD left, that He might test Israel by them, that is, all who had not known any of the wars in Canaan ² (this was only so that the generations of the children of Israel might be taught to know war, at least those who had not formerly known it), ³ namely, five lords of the Philistines, all the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hivites who dwelt in Mount Lebanon, from Mount Baal Hermon to the entrance of Hamath. ⁴ And they were left, that He might test Israel by them, to know whether they would obey the commandments of the LORD, which He had commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses."  The generation that entered the promised land was commanded to destroy the inhabitants of the land and take possession of their inheritance by lot.  After that generation passed away, their children had only known peace and prosperity.  God did not wipe out the enemies of Israel, yet allowed them to remain for several reasons:  to test them, to see if they would obey His commands.

The Law of Moses contained many promises of victory and peace to those who feared God and kept His commands as in Leviticus 26:6-9:  "I will give peace in the land, and you shall lie down, and none will make you afraid; I will rid the land of evil beasts, and the sword will not go through your land. ⁷ You will chase your enemies, and they shall fall by the sword before you. ⁸ Five of you shall chase a hundred, and a hundred of you shall put ten thousand to flight; your enemies shall fall by the sword before you. ⁹ 'For I will look on you favorably and make you fruitful, multiply you and confirm My covenant with you."  Conversely, if God's people did not keep His commands, He would give them over to their enemies and would flee in terror when no one pursued them.  If they would then confess their iniquity and transgressions in humility before God, accepting the punishment of their iniquity for hating His judgments, God would remember the covenant made with their fathers and deliver them.

God allowed His people to experience long seasons of war and conflict so they might learn--not primarily how to use a sword, spear, bow, shield or tactics--but to depend on their LORD God for victory, knowing peace is found only by faith and obedience to Him.  This is also one reason God allows believers to experience trials, illness, oppression and enemies during our season on earth.  God's will is we would learn to fight the good fight of faith, choosing to seek and trust Jesus rather than looking to ourselves or others for an escape.  When we face enemies stronger than ourselves, God watches to see if we will keep trusting and obeying Him.  God uses battles that overwhelm us to teach us of His faithfulness and mighty deliverance so we might live for His glory and praise long after the battle is done.