“Because your heart was penitent, and you humbled yourself before the Lord, when you heard how I spoke against this place and against its inhabitants, that they should become a desolation and a curse, and you have torn your clothes and wept before me, I also have heard you, declares the Lord.” – 2 Kings 22:19
God hears, loves, and honors the prayers of a penitent heart! Whether you’re a king or a commoner, God hears your heartfelt cries of sorrow for the sin around you and of repentance for your part in that sin. As followers of Jesus, we know that our sins are forgiven whenever we turn sharply away from them (called repentance) and ask God’s forgiveness.
Unfortunately this marvelous grace we enjoy can sometimes cause us to be too casual and unfeeling about sin and the awful rejection of God’s authority it represents! Sin is truly and profoundly ugly and awful! Thankfully, the beauty of the cross is that we never need to wallow in sorrow in an unhealthy, self-flagellating effort to somehow “earn” God’s forgiveness, because that’s impossible.
Nonetheless, there’s a place for healthy lament and sorrow for sin – our own as well as that of our church, community, country, and world. There is value and significance in Christians lamenting to God with sorrow and repentance for the immorality and injustice that surrounds us (and not just one or the other based on our politics!)
“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.”