Wisdom lifts up her voice. Do we hear her: "Many that are first shall be last; and the last shall be first." She is greater than fine diamonds. Have we desired her: "He brings low the mighty and exalts the lowly." By her judges rule and kings reign. Have we discovered her: "He must increase, but I must decrease." Consider wisdom:
It is better to go to the house of mourning, than to go to the house of feasting...for by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better. The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning; but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth. Eccl 7:2-4
Wisdom? The heart is made better by the sadness of the countenance? The house of mourning is better than the house of feasting? I thought Christian salvation was about God having a wonderful, happy plan for my life. Why all this talk of sadness and mourning? Surely the writer doesn't understand the ways of God. Surely he doesn't understand salvation - or does he? Is it possible that it is us moderns who don't understand the ways of God?
Solomon understood the often overlooked and misunderstood truth that "unless a seed falls to the ground and dies it abides alone, but if it dies it bears much fruit." He knew that "weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning" (John 12:24). Solomon understood that without crucifixion there can be no resurrection. Friend, is the modern Christian church greater than its Master?
Consider a baker meticulously mixing water, sugar, salt, yeast and flour. He mixes and punches; he rolls and kneads until the dough is perfect. His guests are screaming for the bread, but he knows he must be patient - the rising cannot be rushed. "Leave out the yeast!" cries a famished guest. "After all, the other ingredients are there." But the wise baker knows that even though such a yeast-free concoction might taste similar to bread it would not really be bread at all.
From powdered milk to microwave popcorn, if you want easy and fast - you've got it. Drive-through restaurants; drive-through dry cleaners; drive-through church, it's alright - forget the yeast! We want weight loss without strain and Christian conversion without contrition - the rising just takes too long! Contrition? Indeed, contrition is the yeast in the bread of genuine conversion. Contrition is the house of mourning and the sadness of the countenance. It is the death of the seed and the weeping at midnight. Contrition means crucifixion to self-sufficiency and arrogance. Contrition is the sackcloth and ashes of the soul!
Without contrition true conversion and revival are impossible. Please, don't hear me wrong. We can have big churches without contrition. We can have thousands at altar calls without contrition. We can get people to close their eyes and repeat rote prayers without contrition, but we cannot get one selfish, sin-laden soul to abandon his preoccupation with himself and be genuinely converted without contrition.
Because your heart was responsive and you humbled yourself before God...and because you humbled yourself before me and tore your robes and wept in my presence, I have heard you, declares the LORD (2 Chron 34:27-28).
The sacrifice of ripped clothing is worthless without the sacrifice of a humble, contrite heart. In the same way church attendance, giving, and other Christian exercises are useless apart from contrition. We may tear every shirt we own and even agree with all the correct theological stuff, but without a contrite heart God will not hear and revival will not come. Remove godly sorrow from conversion and our Christians will not rise.
I now rejoice, not that you were made sorrowful, but that you were made sorrowful to the point of repentance; for you were made sorrowful according to the will of God, in order that you might not suffer loss in anything through us. For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation; but the sorrow of the world produces death (2 Cor 7:9-10).