Comforted!

Comforted! 

Blessed and enviably happy [with a happiness produced by the experience of God's favor and especially conditioned by the revelation of His matchless grace] are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted! Matthew 5:4 AMPC

What does it mean to mourn? The Merriam-Webster dictionary provides some insights: to feel or express grief or sorrow; OR to show the customary signs of grief for a death; OR to murmur mournfully. It seems then that to mourn involves a bit of a mixture of inner feelings, outer impressions, as well as verbal or audible expressions. It means then that there must have been a drastic event, or maybe events, that will lead to the situation where mourning this way is acceptable. At least, we know that a wedding ceremony, where both parties are willingly and joyfully entering into a covenant, is not the place for mourning. It then means that there is a place, time or situation where mourning will be inevitable, and will be the appropriate response. How would I know? 

There are many things that can lead to mourning, but if all that God has said in His Word is anything to go by, the first time we ever hear that God's heart was grieved was because of man's sin. God said he regretted ever making man. God is not happy with sin, and can never condone it. His love is such that cannot condone sin, yet He will do all he can to draw the sinner to sorrow about sin and repentance from it. For me, I must also learn the lesson here, and address sin in the same manner that God does. I must hate sin the same way, and constantly depend on the love of God to keep me away from it. Yes, there may be other things that can make a man mourn, but the root cause of all such sorrow is sin. 

Nehemiah, Ezra, David, all in the old testament, and Paul, John the Baptist and Jesus in the new testament, all showed the impact of sin. The power of sin, and its eternal consequence, must scare me enough to push me to run to the strength, mercy and grace of the One who can help me overcome sin. I must hate sin so much that it will fill me with sadness when I fall, and it must push me to go back to God quickly for forgiveness and restoration. It must be repeated here again that at the heart of all that makes a man mourn, whether sickness, disease, famine or death, the enabling factor is sin. Deal with the roots, and you can sort out the fruit. Ignore the root of sin, and you will only be opening yourself up to the devastating eternal consequences of sin. 

Today's extract says all who mourn are blessed. If I am able to keep away from sin, hating it and also showing a worthy example to others around me, Jesus calls me blessed. He promises me comfort as a reward for this mourning, and as we saw from yesterday's extract, God's comfort does not leave us high and dry. There is always an eternal benefit to be gained from that comfort that God gives; He will strengthen my heart, supply the wisdom and grace required and keep my feet from error. What I get from God becomes tools that can also help other people who are struggling too. I do not ever get weaned from that dependence on God; He is there for the rest of my life, shaping and helping me on my life's journey to live right, so I can end right. Would you also tap into this grace? God's time of favour is here.