(Mat 5:4 NIV) Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
Mourning for those who are not saved
(Luke 19:42-44 NIV) and said, “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace–but now it is hidden from your eyes. {43} The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side. {44} They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you.”
We cannot be indifferent to the people around us who do not know the saving grace of God. Jesus was never indifferent when he encountered people who needed God. His heart went out for them. He mourned for them.
When we mourn for them, we will be comforted. We will be comforted because God hears the prayers of an intercessor who intercedes from the heart.
Is there someone you know who does not know God, towards whom your heart has growth numb because you do not want to be disappointed time after time when that person rejects the gospel? It’s time to mourn for that person again and intercede from the bottom of our heart.
Mourning over our troubles and crying out to God
(Psa 34:17-18 NIV) The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears them; he delivers them from all their troubles. {18} The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.
(Psa 147:3 NIV) He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.
When we are serious enough about pouring out our problems on God, He takes notice and delivers us from our problems. When we read the Psalms, we can’t help but notice the intensity with which the Psalmist pours out his problems to God.
Mourning over other people’s problems
There is the mourning of love. We mourn over other people’s suffering because we love them. Paul mourned over the suffering of a church member who had suffered under church discipline. Paul, who instituted that disciplinary action, asked the church to forgive him.
(2 Cor 2:4-8 NIV) For I wrote you out of great distress and anguish of heart and with many tears, not to grieve you but to let you know the depth of my love for you. {5} If anyone has caused grief, he has not so much grieved me as he has grieved all of you, to some extent–not to put it too severely. {6} The punishment inflicted on him by the majority is sufficient for him. {7} Now instead, you ought to forgive and comfort him, so that he will not be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. {8} I urge you, therefore, to reaffirm your love for him.
We cannot be indifferent over the many people that are suffering around us. We need to feel for them and do something about it.
We are sent to comfort the mourners
The Bible has promised that the mourners will be comforted. This does not only mean that when we mourn over our problems, we will be comforted. It also means that when others mourn over their problems, they will be comforted when God sends us to comfort them.
(Isa 61:1 NIV) The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners,
(2 Cor 1:3-4 NIV) Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, {4} who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.
Is there someone God has sent in our midst, someone who is mourning with deep problems? Ask God to use you to comfort that person.