blessed are they that mourn

“Blessed are those who mourn,” Oh! this is certainly not a universal bliss. As we heard in our preceding discourse that not all mourners are blessed. Sons of men mourn for thousands of reason; our sorrows are misplaced at times–crying for reason not worth, but there is no promise for such comfort to all kind of mourners.

The first beatitude runs its course throughout the rest. The mourners whom Christ pronounces ‘blessed’ are those who are ‘poor in spirit.’ The mourning is the emotion which follows upon that poverty of spirit. ‘Poor in spirit’ is the acceptance of the true estimate of our own characters and failings before God; and while mourning is the feeling that follows upon recognizing our failures. Prophet Isaiah had a clear estimate of his own nature when he said, “I am a man of unclean lips”; and he bemoaned his sin when he said, “Woe is me, for I am undone!”

As C H Spurgeon said “let a man once feel sin for half an hour, really feel its tortures, and I warrant you he would prefer to dwell in a pit of snakes than to live with his sins… If you can look on sin without sorrow then you have never looked on Christ.”

And surely, brothers, if you and I have ever had anything like a glimpse of our sins and who we really are, then, there can be no attitude, more becoming the best, the purest, the noblest of us, than that ‘Woe is me, for I am undone!’

“Let a man once feel sin for half an hour, really feel its tortures, and I warrant you he would prefer to dwell in a pit of snakes than to live with his sins… If you can look on sin without sorrow then you have never looked on Christ. –CH Spurgeon

In the parable of Tax-collector and the Pharisee, the tax-collector went home happy, comforted. He indeed had a true estimate of himself, for which reason, he didn’t dare lift up his eyes to gaze at heaven. He mourned for his sins to it’s fullest and found the comfort that comes from God. A wrong estimate of ourselves only makes us like the Pharisee. When we fail to experience God’s forgiveness and divine comfort, it makes us bitter person. But there is no denying the truth, it is only when we receive the comfort that comes from God, we are happy and forgiving, ready to comfort others.

Let’s ask the Lord to give a glimpse of who we really are, then we can bewail that is befitting. Godly sorrow is the fruit of God’s revelation of ourselves. “Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, But the LORD weighs the hearts” Pro 21:2

O’ LORD, measure us in your balance and help us see our true self. We long for a comfort that comes from you and you alone. Amen