“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.”
Matthew 5:4
We’re sad when we lose a competition and disappointed when plans go south. We’re upset when we’ve been insulted. But when a loved one dies, we mourn more achingly than in life’s other painful situations.
The first mourning I remember was when I was seven years old; my classmate and friend was killed in an accident. Life has been punctuated by grief ever since as dear ones die. We’ve all mourned alongside caskets and in cemeteries, beside the empty chair at the kitchen table, or in silent hospital rooms. The pain is so heavy we can hardly bear it.
Jesus bears it with you. He knows the anguish of your heart. He remembers every tear you shed. He is acquainted with grief (see Isaiah 53:3). But it’s this beautiful beatitude from Jesus’ sermon on the mount that assures us in our mourning we shall be comforted.
Somehow there is a supreme blessedness in mourning. It comes to us because Jesus bore its agony on the cross. Comfort from the very realms of heaven is promised us. We know it fleetingly now, but fully one day in His presence.
The first mourning I remember was when I was seven years old; my classmate and friend was killed in an accident. Life has been punctuated by grief ever since as dear ones die. We’ve all mourned alongside caskets and in cemeteries, beside the empty chair at the kitchen table, or in silent hospital rooms. The pain is so heavy we can hardly bear it.
Jesus bears it with you. He knows the anguish of your heart. He remembers every tear you shed. He is acquainted with grief (see Isaiah 53:3). But it’s this beautiful beatitude from Jesus’ sermon on the mount that assures us in our mourning we shall be comforted.
Somehow there is a supreme blessedness in mourning. It comes to us because Jesus bore its agony on the cross. Comfort from the very realms of heaven is promised us. We know it fleetingly now, but fully one day in His presence.
Scripture Focus
Matthew 5:1-12
Insight
FAVORITE BEATITUDE by Anchor editor Kathy Daane. She has found God’s promise to be true of the Lord’s comfort in mourning when parents, friends, relatives, neighbors, and precious unborn babies go on to their heavenly Home.
Bible In A Year
- Deuteronomy 9-10
- Psalm 84
- Acts 7