Living Blessed

For the next few days I will be examining the Beatitudes. It will be a journey. I hope you will join me. Expect adventure. 

Matthew 5:4~

"Blessed are they that mourn; for they shall be comforted."

I have been chewing on this verse for days. Blessing and mourning seems like an oxymoron to me.

Let's look at the Amplified:

"Blessed and enviably happy, [with a happiness produced by experience of God's favor and especially conditioned by the revelation of His matchless grace] are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted."

The Complete Word Study New Testament defines mourning this way:

"They that mourn.....are those who sorrow for their sins and the sins of others."

So if sin breaks your heart then you are blessed. Your sin, my sin, other's sins.......does it break your heart? Then the Lord will bless you!

Imagine how Jesus feels when we sin. He must think, "I died to free them from that trap of death and yet they continue to walk in it." 

Sin is a heart-breaker. When we are broken because we have sinned, there will be healing. It is a promise. Comfort will come. Sorrow will leave. We will feel the favor of God on our lives. Our happiness will be enviable. 

A man after God's own heart cried out: 

"My sacrifice [the sacrifice acceptable] to God is a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart [broken down with sorrow for sin and humbly and thoroughly penitent] such, O God, You will not despise." (Psalm 51)

One time I was walking in the Rocky Mountains with a dear friend. I found a rock in the shape of a heart. There was a broken line right across the middle of it. I was going through such a cleansing fire at the time. I told my friend that the rock I found was like my heart. Her reply was that the Lord did not want to break our hearts through pain and suffering; He would rather do it some other way, but He will use what will work. He wants us to walk in blessing. He will do what it takes to get us to a place where we can be blessed.

Are you in the midst of a cleansing fire? Surrender. He will comfort you. 

Do you know others that are drowning in their sins? Does it break your heart? Have you wept for them? Have you shared the suffering of the Lord's heart for them? He will comfort you!

Sin always causes God sorrow. It always grieves Him. He never laughs at it. He never enjoys it. He is always hurt by it. His Son gave everything so that we wouldn't have to die in our sins. How do we respond to it?

Our response determines our outcome.........blessed or not? Comforted or not? We decide.

Loving and merciful God, thank you for taking away our sins. Thank you for burying them in the deepest sea and forgetting where You put them. Thank you for setting us free! Thank you for the joy of our deliverance. Continue to deliver us from evil. And for those that we love that are choosing a life of bondage, we grieve with You! Deliver them, O Lord, and bring them into a life where there is light on their path and hope in their hearts. We will rejoice when we see them in the light of Your glory! Open their eyes now and let them see Your great salvation!

Because You live there is hope! Amen!

Because He lives!

Cheri