As I sit down to write this my thoughts tell me that perhaps I am not such a great authority on the issue. As I have denied my mourning when I should have been allowing it. We will get into that later in the post though.
Matthew 5:4; God blesses those who mourn for they will be comforted.
This is the next truth that Jesus presented us with during His Sermon on the Mount so long ago. He does comfort those who are experiencing loss. God is our Father and what good father does not want to comfort his children?
Now what is mourning? Mourning is experiencing loss which causes great emotional pain. I have had it recently pointed out to me that it can be more than the death of a loved one. Although the physical death of a loved one is so incredibly hard to handle you can also mourn those who are still alive. Either scenario requires great faith and prayer. God hears the prayers of those who cry out to Him and He will provide us with the comfort we need.
Even though I speak that truth I did not practice what I preach. I have in recent years experienced loss of many different kinds. Miscarried children, a death of a mother in law who was a friend, my wife and I divorced (we are now remarried) my father who is still alive-but I have to mourn my childhood loss of him to alcoholism. All these things I stuffed and brought out feelings for them through anger and addiction. Wreaking havoc on my life and those around me. I did not go to the Lord in prayer and when I did I wanted to know why instead of asking for His love and comfort. That was my mistake.
I have learned it His will not ours that will be done, it only now makes sense to me that He would act and have all the answers for those affected. He knows we will mourn losses of many kinds because He is the God that gives and takes away but only for the growth and the strength of His children.
When I prayed to Him about the loss of our children He answered my prayers in the form of a book called, "The Shack" and provided me a good physical description of where our children are. When my mother in law died, He let me know that she was meeting them and now I know someday I will get to as well and we will have our family in Heaven. I am at peace with that. Do I still miss them? sure I do. I want children here on Earth and I feel that hole sometimes but I know God has our best interest at heart.
When I prayed to Him and cried out for help after my wife and I divorced and my addiction to pornography spun out of control, He heard me. He helped and carefully walked me through a process of seeing what I had, what the life I was living had to offer and really made me search my heart. It was only through His help that I mourned the loss of my marriage and my old life. Through that my wife and I reconciled and I am now happily married to her again. This time its better because we (I) have God in the center and He knows what we need and is helping us and providing for us in many area.
So when Jesus says "God blesses those who mourn for they will be comforted" I believe He means comforted of course through a hard time with loss, but blesses in the aspect of we grow and learn from every experience. Any growth is a blessing from God if it helps us individually mature and gain new insights to ourselves which in turn will help us with our prayers which helps us gain a better relationship Him. It works out nicely it just doesn't feel like it at the time. But do not give up on Him or run out of hope because God knows how to love us exactly the way we need.
Now to wrap this up, I will share the good news once again about the man who spoke the words we are writing about. Jesus is the one and only Son of God who was sent to this Earth to teach of Heavenly thing and take the sin of the world on His shoulders. He was born, grew into in a man and started His ministry. He was put to death on the Cross to act as a sacrifice for all mankind to save from our sins if we repent and follow Him. He rose on the third day and ascended into Heaven where He is seated at the right of the Father and His kingdom will have no end.
Jesus was man, and fully God. Who do you say Jesus is and what does that mean to you?
My prayers are with you
Jason
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