Truth is, give me the choice between happy and sad and I’ll take happy every time. Don’t care much for sad. Just as soon avoid sorrow. Even less a fan of the sort of heartache caused by someone calling me out on something I need to be called out on.

Although I know I should welcome “constructive feedback”, when it’s input about my iniquities it can sting — like really sting! More often than not, it’s hard to hear when it hits home and brings to light something I’d prefer remain hidden. But as I read 2Corinthians 7 this morning, I’m reminded there’s a place for and blessing associated with experiencing what Paul calls “a godly grief”.

As it is, I rejoice, not because you were grieved, but because you were grieved into repenting. For you felt a godly grief, so that you suffered no loss through us. For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death. For see what earnestness this godly grief has produced in you . . .

(2Corinthians 7:9-11a ESV)

Paul had grieved those at the church in Corinth with a letter he had written in which he had said some tough stuff that needed saying. If the letter Paul’s referring to here is 1Corinthians, perhaps what brought them sorrow was Paul’s strong rebuke concerning tolerating sin in their midst . . . or allowing congregational politics to fracture their fellowship . . . or their trigger-finger in being willing to go to court in order to settle disputes among themselves . . . or their disregard for the Lord’s table. Whatever the matter was it had brought grief and sorrow to the believers at Corinth. But, says Paul, it was a productive sorrow. A godly grief. A sadness that led to turning things around. Heartache which revived an earnestness for the kingdom. They were grieved into repenting.

And I’m reminded that sometimes, though I don’t welcome it or like going through it, being made sorrowful or suffering grief can be used of God as part of His sanctification toolkit. In this case, it’s not sadness borne of misfortune. Nor is it sorrow due to what someone else is going through. Instead, it’s grief which comes from being confronted with, or made aware of, sin in my life.

I don’t like even typing that . . . sin in my life. But sometimes God will open the door on rooms I’ve tried to keep closed. Sometimes He’ll cause me to peek under the carpet where I’ve swept some dirt. Sometimes he’ll send a friend to shed light on something I’ve tried to keep hidden in the dark. And in those sometimes, it causes grief, it produces sorrow. The soul is downcast. The gut is in knots. The chest weighs heavy. Not a place I like being.

But it can be a productive place. Though it’s a barren feeling, when this sort of sorrow leads to repentance, it actually bears the fruit of righteousness (Heb. 12:11).

It’s not a grief which results in shrinking away in hopeless despair, but grief that compels us toward God’s holy throne. Grief which moves us to enlist the One who ever lives to make intercession for us (Heb. 7:25). Grief which moves us to confessing our wrong-doing and asking for forgiveness. Grief that reminds us afresh that we are loved sons and daughters of God, not because of our worthiness, but solely because of the finished work of His Son on Calvary’s cross.

A grief which results in us being grieved into repenting. So that, at the foot of the cross, our sorrow for sin is swallowed up by a fresh encounter with an ocean of grace. Our grief giving way to gratefulness. Our sadness displaced by joy, knowing again that if we confess our sin, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1John 1:9).

Nope, don’t like sad. But when it’s a sad caused by the inner voice of the Spirit or by the audible voice of a brother or sister being obedient to the Spirit, when it’s sad shedding light on an area that needs to be brought to light, I want it to be a sad which produces a hunger and thirst for righteousness, His righteousness. I want it to be a regret that results in reconciliation and a renewed abiding with the Savior. While I don’t much like going through it, I want to be grieved into repenting . . .

Only by His grace. Always for His glory.