Confession, repentance, and lament can lead to us feeling exposed and fearful about what will happen when we expose ourselves so completely before others.
When it comes to God though, we have no reason for fear.
When we confess, repent, and lament before God we know that whatever follows it will conclude with the loving embrace of our gracious Father.
So make sure you stay with the process all the way.
Do you know the source of true joy and freedom? Is repentance before a God who should discipline you, but instead hugs you. It’s walking into a dark room and then someone furns on the lights of a Christmas tree. Its expecting to be condemned, but finding that you’re loved. It’s lamenting who you are, and then realising who you really are, the child of your Father the King. It’s no longer having anything to prove or protect. It’s no longer having to be right or to pretend to be good.
The most powerful and perhaps the scariest prayer we can pray is, “Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any griev. ous way in me …” (Psalm 139:23-24). It is also a prayer that, when prayed by a Christian, is always answered. God always says, “This will hurt some, but don’t leave until you get loved.” It doesn’t matter where you’ve been or where you are, what you’ve done or what you’re doing, who you’ve hurt or those you still hurt, and the sins you’ve committed or the ones you’re still committing, repentance and lament are in order and with it because of the freedom and laughter that is a part of it.Steve Brown, Laughter And Lament, New Growth Press, 2022, pgs. 68-69.
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