Shabbat Shuvah 2024 – Good Grief!

This week we celebrate a very special sabbath known as Shabbat Shuvah, the Sabbath of Return. This special Shabbat occurs between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur and focuses on returning to the Lord through repentance. Repentance is turning away from everything that prevents us from fully following the Lord and then turning towards Adonai.

True repentance is often very difficult and painful, so we tend to avoid it. Most people do not like to suffer and experience grief. Unfortunately, we live in a world full of grief, full of suffering. This can range from losing electricity to the enormous grief that comes from the death of a loved one. The many sufferings we experience in life also have many different causes. Sometimes the source is simply from living in a fallen world or the choices made by sinful leaders. However, on Shabbat Shuvah, I would like to discuss one very important type of grief, godly grief, or good grief.

Good grief is defined for us in 2 Corinthians 7:8-10. In this chapter the Apostle Paul, writing to Corinth, references a previous letter he sent the community in response to their sins. This “severe letter” caused them a whole lot of grief and they were very upset. Rabbi Paul then encourages Messiah’s Community to adopt a different perspective on grief that comes from the Lord. We read in verses 8-9,” For even if I made you grieve with my letter, I do not regret it—though I did regret it, for I see that that letter grieved you, though only for a while. As it is, I rejoice, not because you were grieved, but because you were grieved into repenting. For you felt a godly grief so that you suffered no loss through us.”

It seems strange for Rabbi Paul to rejoice in Corinth’s suffering. But he does because their suffering has led to a righteous result. Therefore, godly grief is suffering that comes from the Lord, leading us to repent of our sins. It is ‘good grief’ because it forces us to turn away from our sinful desires and towards our sinless savor. Messiah’s Community in Corinth could have repented of their sins before Rabbi Paul’s “severe letter”, but they refused to. Unfortunately, we are the same, we often need the pain of suffering to spark deep change. For many, it is only during intense suffering and grief that we finally repent and turn our lives over to the Lord. Sadly, we may need to experience several seasons of painful godly grief throughout our lives as the Lord leads us to repentance.

This season and this Shabbat provide us a yearly opportunity to allow ourselves to experience some good grief. We can intentionally be uncomfortable, through fasting and self-reflection, to examine who we focus on in our lives. The big question is, are we focused on the Lord, or ourselves and this world?

After all, not all grief is ‘good grief. There is an opposite to godly grief, worldly grief. Worldly grief is when we agonize and suffer over everything that we want in this world but do not have. Lamenting our lack of things, money, power, love, social media, and anything else we see in others that we want for ourselves. We grieve these desires, but they do not lead us to the Lord, they turn us towards sin, selfishness, and death.

Rabbi Paul, through the Holy Spirit, beautifully summarizes godly grief and worldly grief in verse 10, “For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.” We must understand that godly grief leads to repentance and salvation, which we will never regret. Worldly grief, mourning our earthly desires, leads only to spiritual death. There are only two paths we can be walking down; it is crucial we know which one we are on.

Shabbat Shuvah encourages us to understand repentance and to know the source of our salvation. Salvation is not found in good deeds, being a ‘good person’, or fasting once a year. The Lord’s salvation, the salvation that leads to eternal life, is found only in Messiah Yeshua. Through Messiah Yeshua’s sinless sacrifice, we find the path that leads us to salvation as we turn towards Him and away from our desires. We can experience this return without grief and hopefully, we will! But if we discern the source of our suffering is from the Lord then we must repent so that our sorrow can be turned to joy.

This Shabbat Shuvah I hope that we would all embrace the sometimes-painful process of repentance. Let us be sensitive to the good and godly grief of God. The kind of grief that leads us from our destructive patterns and back to Adonai through Messiah Yeshua’s salvation. Each of us needs to genuinely examine our hearts and ask the Lord through the Holy Spirit to remove worldly griefs and desires that so easily harm us. A new year is a new opportunity to grow and change. With God all things are possible. It is possible to return to the Lord. It is possible to let go of sinful desires, fear, anger, despair, and everything else that causes us to suffer. But we must be willing to be radically honest through the Lord’s help and power.

May the Lord enable each of us, our Jewish people, and all the nations of the world, to return to Him. May each of us embrace good godly grief and quickly repent when we experience it. May we all rejoice in the salvation we will never regret found in our wonderful Messiah.