Blessed our those who Mourn

Mourning is a reflex indicating that our heart is in good spiritual health. “There is a time to mourn” All of God's faithful servants mourn over the things grievous to their Lord. Ezekiel was given a vision of 6 men with hewing axes accompanied by a man with a writing tablet. The man with the writing tablet was instructed to go throughout Jerusalem and mark the forehead of all who were mourning over the deplorable spiritual state of the people. The six men with hewing axes were then instructed to go throughout the city, beginning at the Temple and slaughter everyone without the mark of mourning upon their forehead. The people whose hearts were grieved were spared; those who were glad lost their life.

We love the thought that our Lord is willing to give “beauty for ashes and the oil of joy for mourning”, yet we fail to make the connection that “ashes” and “mourning” are responses of people that are grieving because the name of God is being blasphemed by the lawless condition of His people. Jesus pronounced woe upon the people of Chorazin and Bethsaida with these words: “…for if the miracles done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.” When Daniel understood from Jeremiah’s prophecy that the destruction of Jerusalem would last seventy years, his response was to humble himself and pray in sackcloth and ashes. The” oil of joy for mourning” and “the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness” represent the comfort given to those whose hearts are broken over the state of God’s people and the reproach that their unfaithfulness has brought upon His name. Wisdom laughs over the calamity of those who refuse to be corrected – she does not comfort all.

Taking pleasure in unrighteousness is a response opposite to that of mourning. Those who take pleasure in conditions that are grievous to God are in grave spiritual peril. Paul warned of the consequence of “taking pleasure in unrighteousness” in his second letter to Thessalonica. “…with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this reason God will send them a strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.”

Those who believe the truth mourn over unrighteousness and they will be blessed with comfort. Those who do not believe or love the truth will be receive a strong delusion that will lead them unto condemnation. They are condemned because instead of mourning over unrighteousness, they derive their pleasure from it. “Blessed are those who mourn – for they shall be comforted.”