Blessed are They that Mourn

Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted. (Matthew 5:4)

Since the loss of my mother I have been doing what any person does in a time of grief. I have been contemplating some of the issues involved in life and death. In the beginning, God created man to be the keeper of His creation. (Genesis 2:5, 15) After God created the first man, Adam, God observed that it is not good for man to be alone, so he made him a help meet, Eve. (Genesis 2:5) My father was blessed with his help meet for 59 years. I've been with my husband for a mere 23 years, and yet I cannot imagine my life without him and the incredible void that would be present. I grieve not only for my loss of a mother, but for the void my father surely feels at the loss of his wife of 59 years.

So, how can scripture say "blessed are they that mourn"? In what way is mourning a blessing? As the verse says, the blessing is in the comforting. When Jesus was about to be crucified and leave his temporary home on earth to take his rightful place in heaven, he knew his absence would leave a huge void in the lives of his followers. Addressing this issue, Jesus speaks to his disciples in John 16:4-7, "But these things have I told you, that when the time shall come, ye may remember that I told you of them. And these things I said not unto you at the beginning, because I was with you. But now I go my way to him that sent me; and none of you asketh me, Whither goest thou? But because I have said these things unto you, sorrow hath filled your heart. Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you."

Christ's lesson I believe transfers to every loss in our lives. With every loss, there comes a void, with every void a need to be comforted, and with every need to be comforted, a more pronounced need for a Comforter who will never leave us. James 4:8 admonishes us to "draw nigh unto God, and he will draw nigh unto you." In our loss, if we seek to fill that void with God through the comfort His indwelling Spirit brings, we draw near to him, and he to us. In that sense, the old saying, "no pain, no gain" is very real. In our pain, we gain Christ.

The Thessalonians experienced great persecution. They truly knew the meaning of painful loss. In those two short books in the Bible, some form of the word "comfort" is used six times. The promises of Jesus and their hope of eternal life were great sources of comfort for them during this time. They comforted one another with these truths. Those, too, are great sources of comfort for us.

Paul sums it up nicely in 2 Corinthians 1:3-4, "Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort, Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God."

By the way, though my father certainly does miss my mother, and he does grieve for that loss, no doubt feeling that void at times, he is doing wonderfully. His relationship with God is such that he has experienced that promised blessed comfort throughout my mom's illness and in her death. He continues to press toward the mark of the high calling, seeking God's direction for this new season of life. He is a living example of the comfort of God.

Are you grieving? Though my grief diminishes a bit with each passing day, it is certainly still very real. God desires to comfort you and me. God desires us to draw near to him so that he may draw near to us. He can and will fill the voids from any loss we experience.

Psalms 145:16, "Thou openest thine hand, and satisfiest the desire of every living thing."