People Respond with Weeping and Sorrow

In the bible, we see how do people look at weeping and sorrow?

The Israelites have demonstrated an emotional response. With all the expression of grief, there was a reason to believe that God’s word had a deep impact upon them. They were on their way to a genuine revival of God’s work among them. In Judges 2:4-6, it stated:

When the angel of the Lord had spoken these things to all the Israelites, the people wept aloud, and they called that place Bokim. There they offered sacrifices to the Lord. After Joshua had dismissed the Israelites, they went to take possession of the land, each to their own inheritance.

The book of Judges showed that their initial reaction of sorrow and repentance did not end into a lasting repentance. After things went well for them, they went back to their old ways and sinned against God. Their emotional reaction was not a proof that it was a lasting repentance of their sins.  

Any person can weep and respond in sorrow before God, but it is never an assurance that they will never go back to their old ways. Real repentance can be showed through actions and not through weeping. We can be sorry about the consequences of our sin without being sorry about the sin itself.

As Christians, we must be aware if we are really sorry of our sins. We have to understand that weeping is not enough for being sorry. Our actions after we’ve said sorry are the most important part of being sorry. Even if we cried all our tears but did not make a move to correct our mistakes, our tears mean nothing.