I walked a mile with Pleasure; 

She chatted all the way; 

But left me none the wiser

For all, she had to say.


I walked a mile with Sorrow; 

And ne’er a word said she; 

But, oh! The things I learned from her, 

When Sorrow walked with me.

- Robert Browning

 

I don’t know about you, but I know so many people right now who are going through it and are in the throngs of deep suffering. They don’t understand why sorrow has befallen them. 

I want to remind them that God is right there in the midst of their sorrows, tragedies, and disappointments. I know this first-hand because I wrote this piece when I was in the throes of my own deep sorrow. It is my prayer that you will see the flowers of faith that can bloom when we trust and surrender the storms of our lives to Him who sits enthroned above our circumstances.

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What is the prerequisite to plumb the depths of your own soul -- sorrow?  It can happen only if handled in a godly manner. When you can get a hold on your sorrow and learn to understand ‘him,' you will begin to learn that ‘he’ is the plough necessary to uproot wrongly compacted soil and emotions. 

Our souls become trodden down over time and left hardened by the resources of life.  Until an earthquake erupts, or a trial enters, and tears up the land of our own making, opening up canals and ravines that we never knew existed because the earth of our being was never lifted.  For me, I was settled into the dirt of complacency.

Oh, how we so need sorrow to better understand joy.  Oh, how we need to learn how to let sorrows' leaves fall gently on our intellect while raking away the twigs of pity and despair. 

Those two can have nothing to do with godly sorrow, for they will prolong the landscaping process always putting it off until tomorrow.

I’ve experienced more clarity in trailing sorrow, following ‘his’ beaten path to more depth and control over my emotions.

I have even found ‘his’ irrigation in my life to be the very reason there is no more irritation in my life.  No longer struggling with releasing my will for God’s.  No longer responding to life based on the surface survey; rather resting assured that God’s resources and minerals are within for my souls purvey.  God cannot properly warm me until I stop wrestling with sorrows' blanket.  His comfort wants to flood my soul's depths to filling, not just sprinkle my feelings.

Therefore, let us ignore the outward commotion, go farther than the shallow emotion, and allow the sorrow of the soul to plunge us into deeper devotion.

“For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death.  For observe this very thing that you sorrowed in a godly manner:  What diligence it produced in you, what clearing of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what vehement desire, what zeal, what vindication!  In all things you proved yourselves to be clear in this matter” (II Corinthians 7:10-11).

ED. NOTE: Matthew Maher is a former professional athlete and author of the newly released book U MAY B THE ONLY BIBLE SOMEBODY READS: R U LEGIBLE? His “Decisions Determine Destiny” assemblies are funded by State Farm and service youth in the tristate area. He is the President of Soldiers for Faith Ministries and also the Director of Student Ministries at Coastal Christian Ocean City. He served four years and seven months in N.J. State prison and was released August 2014. You can learn more at www.themattmaherstory.com. Follow him on Twitter @mattmaherstory and Instagram @matthewmaher7.