God's timing is uncannily perfect. I was gone these past couple days at my grandparents for Christmas and was unable to continue this blog devotional until today.
As we continue to look at the beatitudes I immediately was amazed and in awe of the next one we are going to look at. God always works in the littlest ways. With the recent lose of beloved former RC-L student, I think God chose to show up through this next beatitude.
#2 Beatitude (Matthew 5:4)
Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. (NIV)
There are many different interpretations of this text. Many writers think that this beatitudes follows the first one. When you are poor in spirit (humbled before the holiness of God) you mourn because you know there is no way you can do anything to earn salvation. But Jesus says you will be comforted because in Him there is hope for life here and now.
When Adam and Eve decided to disobey God, sin entered the world. And the consequences of sin were and continue to be horrible. As the booklet called The Story says, "Like a virus, sin entered into all of creation and into the hearts of Adam and Even. Sin, suffering, and pain were passed down from generation to generation; all of creation was distorted from its original design. We have all read or heard the stories of war, poverty, disease, greed, and scandals that plagues our world today, Those are all a result of sin."
And it all ends with death. Death is an interesting concept. We all know that is how this life ends. But how and when death comes about, it can leave us standing breathless, unable to process it. As David Crowder says in one of his songs, "Everybody wants to go to Heaven, but nobody wants to die."
Death brings about so many questions and so much pain. I keep thinking to myself, "What can I say to those who are struggling right now to comfort them?" In the midst of loss so many questions run through our minds. "Why did this have to happen to them?" "Why now?" "Why didn't God stop this?" "How can God be good and let this happen?" "Where are you God?" "How can this be God's plan?" The Message version of this verse states, "You're blessed when you feel you've lost what is most dear to you. Only then can you be embraced by the One most dear to you."
And when asked these questions I'm left with little to no answers. I am not God nor do I want to pretend to be. In this world of brokenness comes pain, hurts, fears, doubts, and lonliness. How then are we to be comforted?
Jesus. That is my only answer. Jesus. A man who knew what pain, hurt, abandoment, lonliness, fear, and death felt like all too well. He has endured the worst so in time of our mourning He is the very comfort that our soul cries for. He is the only one who can bring hope and love in times of sorrow. He is the only one who can turn our mourning into dancing and our sorrow into joy. He is a man who has faced death and overcomed it! And because of his victory we find the comfort that we too can overcome death through faith in Jesus Christ!
But the catch is this, if he is the only one who can do that and if we turn elsewhere to find comfort we will be searching our whole lives for complete comfort and healing. And when we realize we searched all the wrong places we find ourselves more empty and sad then when we started. Because nothing can fill us or give us hope like Jesus can.
I'm not saying you can't be angry at God or ask (yell) him all the hard questions. In fact, I would encourage you to do so. Go to him and ask him. Go to him and cry out to Him. Go to him and scream at him. Do whatever you need to do as long as you just go to HIM!
David was not a man who didn't know what pain or desparation felt like. Psalms is full of David crying out to God in time of need and sometimes they say exactly how we feel.
Psalm 38:8-9 I am feeble and utterly crushed; I groan in anguish of heart. All my longings lie open before you, Lord; my sighing is not hidden from you.
Psalm 143:6-8 I spread out my hands to you; I thirst for you like a parched land. Answer me quickly, LORD; my spirit fails. Do not hide your face from me or I will be like those who go down to the pit. Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in you. Show me the way I should go, for to you I entrust my life.
So cry out to Jesus (as Thirday Day states in their song http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yLSKSlJ0-2s) May the God of Comfort, comfort you in this time. May you find hope, love, peace and eventually joy in who He and what He has done for you.
Embrace Him full force! I'm praying for you all!
Check out 1 Thessalonians 4:13-14
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