Blessed Are They That Mourn

Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.

What do you think of when you hear the word "mourn?" My mind immediately turns to that horrible feeling of loss after the death of a loved one, laying in bed with the lights off, snuggled deep in the covers, sobbing despite the exhaustion that overtakes your body, thinking that the pain you're living with at that moment will be with you for the rest of your life. I think about falling to the ground, the grief so debilitating, your heart broken, unable to hold back the tears.

But follow that verse to the end... 

Shall Be

If you're going through grief that seems to tear your soul apart, if you wonder whether you will ever feel whole again, if you feel so lost in the debilitating pain - know that Christ promises you will be comforted. Be comforted by the fact that you're loved, that God is there with you during this time, He will never leave your side. And also, take comfort in the fact that Christ promises that you will be comforted - maybe not fully in this moment - but the promise is there for you!

But I also want to take a look at two other ways of seeing this passage:

And the Lord said unto him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof.

Ezekiel 94

And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son...

Zechariah 12:10

Blessed are they that are penitent over their sins. This is a godly sorrow.  In a salvation aspect, we need to see how our sin separates us from God, how our sin led Christ to the cross. But, as Christians, it should break our hearts when our sin hinders our relationship with Christ, when there is a barrier in the soul because of our sin. 

By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion.

Psalms 137:1

And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it,

Saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes.

 For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side,

And shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation.

Luke 19:41-44

We should also mourn over the afflictions of others. How can we as Christians not look over this world and see people, dying in their sins, headed to eternal suffering - how can we see this and not mourn over this? How can we see the hardships of the persecuted church abroad and not weep for them? 

But we shall be comforted. Both now and in eternity. When we confess our sins, God is both faithful and just to forgive those sins. Hallelujah! The minute we pray for forgiveness, we need not mourn over our sin anymore, for God has cast that sin as far as the east is from the west! What a comfort to a mourning heart. But as we look around us, we see the sufferings and afflictions of those around us. Here on this earth, there will always be suffering around us. But when we move on to our true home in heaven with the Lord, there, Christ will wipe away our tears, we shall be comforted. 

They that sow in tears shall reap in joy.

Psalms 126:5