Unlimited: Blessed Are Those Who Mourn

Nov 12, 2021 935

Unlimited: Blessed Are Those Who Mourn

Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted (Matthew 5:4, NIV).

To come to God, I must be stripped of my self-sufficiency. The blessed poor in spirit know they do not have in themselves what the righteous law demands.

All human philosophy says sorrow is the great trouble of the earth. Jesus says that sorrow is the great opportunity. Sorrow can empty your hands of dirt, so God can fill them with jewels. Sorrow can remove you quickly from the carnal, the worldly, temporal, and evil.

Jesus teaches that the purpose of sorrow is to strand us on the Rock of Ages. Jesus challenges us that if we will see our troubles correctly, they will result in blessing, because trouble punctures the illusion that ‘I am sufficient’.

Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

We are very much like moths that are attracted by the light. The world has many glowing lights: wealth, fame, possessions, power, sex. They can burn us and scorch us. If we use them other than how God says to use them, they can destroy us. But God, in his mercy, empties our hands of tinsel and garbage so he might put something better there.

Jesus challenges us with the astonishing idea: “Blessed are you if you have problems.” He teaches us to say “Thank God” for all the things we think are unbearable weights, insufferable dilemmas, and overwhelming troubles!  – Des Ford (adapted)

Reflection: Can you bring yourself to thank God for your biggest troubles?  Make a point of praying a prayer of praise and gratitude specifically for your troubles. Make a point of listening to what God has to say to you in response. What does that do for your heart?

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