Martin Luther writes of what he calls God’s hidden sorrow. It is God’s sorrow over sin and it is hidden, says Luther, in the incarnate Christ. It is no outwardly apparent because the deep anguish over sin is a divine characteristic and cannot be known apart from God’s revelation. Luther argues that Christ’s greatest suffering on earth was inward and was over the sin of the world.
In the light of Christ the awareness of sin’s darkness comes to those who believe and follow. When we are observing life, when we are looking in on our own lives, it is good to ask the question, “is there sin.” That answer comes from the Holy Spirit and is revealed in a myriad of ways. But if the answer is “yes” then we know two things. First, we know that God has blessed us with Divine insight. Second, we know that forgiveness, repentance, and resistance to temptation is possible. Christ suffered because and for our sin. Sorrow over sin then leads not to the doldrums of our own inability, but to praise of God for His great ability to heal and forgive.