Comfort:The Mourning Benefit – Matthew 5:4

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

Mourn (v) – to feel or express sorrow or grief over (misfortune, loss, or anything regretted); deplore:to grieve or lament over (the dead):to utter in a sorrowful manner. 

Comfort( n) – a state of physical ease and freedom from pain or constraint:prosperity and the pleasant lifestyle secured by it: (v) – ease the grief or distress of; console:improve the mood of or restore a sense of well-being to:

What great news this is for those who mourn for whatever reason.-” they shall be comforted.” I believe that depression, forced laughter, and anger amongst other things also represent periods of mourning. Fly with me here!  Let me say it another way- Mourning Isn’t Always Just About Death.  When we are led by the Spirit of God using our heart and mind, it is not hard to comprehend that other things than death cause us to mourn. I also know that when we mourn, it is natural for us to give into a mourning period. We find no comfort during that time, no matter what anyone say to or do for us to try and lessen the pain, grief, or disappointment we feel.

Comfort can only be found in Jesus.

In Revelation 21:1-2 John “saw a new heaven and a new earth.” He saw “the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven.” He also heard God(Rev. 21:3-4) –  “And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.

In Isaiah 61:1-3, we are told by Isaiah that “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn; to appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified.  Whoa! what an anointing path.

There are many paths that we travel, both light and dark. We will endure dark and light periods in our lives. The one thing we must remember as Christians and learn as non-believers, is that there is always The LIGHT waiting for us to walk in Him. That in itself is another benefit of being in Christ Jesus.  Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. (John 8:12)

 

Even God began mourning (Gen. 6:6) and still mourns for His people.  In Isaiah 63:8-9- For he said, Surely they are my people, children that will not lie: so he was their Saviour. In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them: in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; and he bare them, and carried them all the days of old. There it shows us that God mourns when we mourn, He grieves when we, His people, grieves. In Isaiah 53:3-4, during the foretelling of Jesus, we also find that He shares in both our grief’s and sorrows. “He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne our grief’s, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.”

News Flash-You will be comforted, so saith the Lord. It is in His Word. It is His WILL. In the book of Revelation, you will discover that God also receives the benefit when His people return to Him receiving glorified bodies to live eternally, i.e. FOREVER without ever mourning. He too will be comforted. Amen. Go ahead and have your praise shouting and worship moment right here. Jesus said in Matthew 28:20- “…lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.” A lot of us wrap ourselves in comforters during the fall and winter seasons, or lay outside on one during spring and summer seasons just relaxing and picnicking away. Catch this!- Jesus is The COMFORTER that we can wrap ourselves in and lay on during  all seasons. He said it loud and clear for us to understand in any language-  “…I am with you always..”

~ Hubert Selby Jr., Requiem for a Dream~

“There’s a sorrow and pain in everyone’s life, but every now and then there’s a ray of light that melts the loneliness in your heart and brings comfort like hot soup and a soft bed.”