Blessed are those who mourn, For they shall be comforted. (Matthew 5:4, NKJV).
Radical Living - Part 004: Blessed Comfort
Godly sorrow is another aspect of mourning that leads to blessing. A Christian, when (not if) he or she sins is to confess that sin to God, repent (turn away from that sin) and receive the comfort of being forgiven, exactly as instructed in 1 John: If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9, NKJV). Mourning over our own sin then, is another way that God spurs us to do precisely that, and the result is comfort and cleansing.
This is good news and makes this kind of grief one of the key differentiators between regret or remorse, and repentance. Judas regretted his betrayal of Christ and hung himself with his own prideful remorse, as much as with the rope that cinched his neck, and his lack of godly sorrow brought him to eternal perdition. Peter mourned his betrayal of Christ,and grieved over it not from wounded pride, but from the sincere realization that he had failed the One who loved Him enough to die in His place. Ultimately that led to Peter's eternal comfort.
Individuals who do not mourn, either from apathy, ignorance of their true condition, or hardness of heart, can never receive the comfort from God that follows as naturally day follows night. In fact, so much does our God and Father desire to comfort that He proclaims His intent to the fallen world unmistakably in the verses below:
“Comfort, yes, comfort My people!” Says your God. (Isaiah 40:1, NKJV).
To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, And the day of vengeance of our God; To comfort all who mourn, (Isaiah 61:2, NKJV).
These are the cries from the very heart of God through the prophet Isaiah to His people even in the midst of their apostasy. Though they deserved and would receive judgment, His love longed to be their Comforter, and promised that after the trials there would be comfort.
Now may the God of patience and comfort grant you to be like-minded toward one another, according to Christ Jesus, (Romans 15:5, NKJV).
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. (2 Corinthians 1:3, 4, NKJV).
These passages echo the same declaration in the New Testament through the Apostle Paul, but now emphasized to the degree that it becomes part of how He wants us to know Him: as the God of Comfort.
Ultimately, this comfort becomes a Christian's permanent possession through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, Who takes up residence within each and every child of God, and is forever known as THE Comforter.
But the key is first to mourn as God mourns, for without that first step, solace cannot and will not be sought.
While it may seem counterintuitive to the world that mourning is a good thing, in the Kingdom of Heaven, and in light of the truth of our fallen condition, it must make perfect sense to a heart softened and recreated by God. It is one of the key spiritual principles of walking this world as a follower of the Lord Christ.
