Those Who Mourn

By: Joanne Viola

Today we continue on in the Beatitudes. Jesus continued to teach:

“God blesses those who mourn, for they will be comforted.” (Matthew 5:4, NLT)

The mourning He speaks of here derives from the word “lament”. It is a deep personal grief caused either by sin, tragedy, social evils, or oppression.

Jesus is describing the person whose heart is broken by what breaks God’s heart.

This mourning Jesus speaks of is a pain that, if we allow it, will push us more deeply into our relationship with God.

“We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation.” (Romans 5:3-4, NLT)

There are lessons learned from such mourning:

1. God doesn’t waste our pain. Our pain produces. Each step through a time of mourning produces fruit in our life until we are made complete.
2. We learn to endure. The small things in life become easier to overcome or overlook. We gain strength to not only jump over the hurdles of life ourselves, but also encourage others to do so.
3. Our hope is solidified. Just as Jesus overcame, He is our hope in the midst of our pain. His strength becomes ours.

But this mourning does more in our lives – it enables us to come alongside others. When we are comforted by God, we are able to comfort others with the same comfort we have received.

“All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is our merciful Father and the source of all comfort. He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us.” (2 Corinthians 1:3-4, NLT)

And this is the precious promise we have been given as written in Isaiah 61:3 –

We will receive a crown of beauty instead of ashes,
a joyous blessing instead of mourning, and
festive praise instead of despair.
And we will be like great oaks, standing strong, planted for the Lord's own glory.

Image by silviarita from Pixabay