Remorse

Photo by Joe Pearson on Unsplash

Remorse is not unhealthy.

Unresolved, unconfessed, and unrepentant remorse eats at us from inside.

True remorse leads to repentance, redemption, and reconciliation with God and others.

It is an indicator that we have not lost our humanity, our connection to the image of God within us. Fallen, as we are, we can still hear the welcoming, wooing, voice of conscience where God is speaking to us, calling us home.

There is nothing to hide from God. God knows:

"O Lord, you know all my desires, *
and my sighing is not hidden from you."

The soul longs for connection to its Maker as a child to a parent and as any part of creation, to its source.

"I will confess my iniquity *
and be sorry for my sin."

This is the great step on the path to hope.

And confident hope is eloquently expressed in these words:

"For in you, O Lord, have I fixed my hope; *
you will answer me, O Lord my God."

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Psalm 38
Domine, ne in furore

O Lord, do not rebuke me in your anger; *
do not punish me in your wrath.

For your arrows have already pierced me, *
and your hand presses hard upon me.

There is no health in my flesh,
because of your indignation; *
there is no soundness in my body, because of my sin.

For my iniquities overwhelm me; *
like a heavy burden they are too much for me to bear.

My wounds stink and fester *
by reason of my foolishness.

I am utterly bowed down and prostrate; *
I go about in mourning all the day long.

My loins are filled with searing pain; *
there is no health in my body.

I am utterly numb and crushed; *
I wail, because of the groaning of my heart.

O Lord, you know all my desires, *
and my sighing is not hidden from you.

My heart is pounding, my strength has failed me, *
and the brightness of my eyes is gone from me.

My friends and companions draw back from my affliction; *
my neighbors stand afar off.

Those who seek after my life lay snares for me; *
those who strive to hurt me speak of my ruin
and plot treachery all the day long.

But I am like the deaf who do not hear, *
like those who are mute and who do not open their mouth.

I have become like one who does not hear *
and from whose mouth comes no defense.

For in you, O Lord, have I fixed my hope; *
you will answer me, O Lord my God.

For I said, “Do not let them rejoice at my expense, *
those who gloat over me when my foot slips.”

Truly, I am on the verge of falling, *
and my pain is always with me.

I will confess my iniquity *
and be sorry for my sin.

Those who are my enemies without cause are mighty, *
and many in number are those who wrongfully hate me.

Those who repay evil for good slander me, *
because I follow the course that is right.

O Lord, do not forsake me; *
be not far from me, O my God.

Make haste to help me, *
O Lord of my salvation.