God blesses those who mourn? Grief sure doesn’t feel like a blessing. It hurts like crazy! Our hearts cry out for relief while broken beyond repair. Our minds are fractured and nothing stops the incessant tearful bleeding out.
Dearest Believer, if your heart is irrevocably torn by the loss of someone you love dearly, I know you don’t feel blessed. You try hard to find something to smile about each day. I hear you. Better than that, God hears you and understands your pain.
Still, Matthew 5:4 says you ARE blessed. Not by your loss. That would be callous to think. No, I believe Jesus was telling His followers that when we mourn His heart is broken, too. When our children grieve someone or something, do we not grieve with and for them? Of course we do, and God IS our Heavenly Father; why would He be different?
Jesus says that when His followers mourn, they will be comforted. Here is the sticking point: we want the grief gone and that just doesn’t happen. He doesn’t say it will be removed, He says it will be comforted.
Far too often we turn to others for that comfort, then are disappointed when they fail to give us what we need. We who have accepted Jesus’ sacrifice for our sins must understand that God is never far from us, and He is even nearer in our grief. He knows grief. He also knows that when we are wrapped up in it, we can barely breathe, and He moves closer so reaching out to Him is easier.
We must choose to whom we will reach out. We must decide from whom we will seek comfort. We must determine that even though the pain will not be erased, we can experience comfort if we but seek God for it.
Who are you mourning today? Will you take the step to open up to God’s comfort today?
Coffee, Bible, Journal.
BONUS: A video of the song “Beauty for Ashes” by Crystal Lewis.
