31 Days of Devotions: Blessed

Photo credit: knowhimonline

I'm joining the 31 Days series with a 31 Days of Devotions here.  I've been struggling to find a way to write from my heart again, so I decided to begin where my heart is - His word.  I will be sharing a different theme each day, sort of a word study of words of encouragement and hope that have meant a lot to me recently.  Some days I may post more than once if there are other things I want to share about our day to day life, but there will always be a 31 Days post every day for the month of October. I hope you will join in every day and share your own thoughts.  And, of course, for more 31 Days posts, go here.

Photo credit: Jill Clardy

"Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted." (Matthew 5:4)

Of all the beatitude verses, this one has given me the most comfort recently.   A year and a half ago, my grandfather passed away.  He was 86 and had lived a full, beautiful life, but the grief of losing the grandfather I loved so dearly was too much for me to bear.  Every single night of that last week we spent loving on him, I fell on my knees weeping before my Lord.  In the weeks and months that followed his death, grief overwhelmed me.  But, through all my tears, He never left my side, always encouraging me, loving me, and lifting me back on my feet. 

When Christ spoke His sermon on the mount, he began by laying out blessings.  Acts 3:26 says that He came to bless and John 3:16 explains that He came not to condemn, but to save.

"He came not only to purchase blessings for us, but to pour out and pronounce blessings on us; and here he does it as one having authority, as one that can command the blessing, even life for evermore, and that is the blessing here again and again promised to the good; his pronouncing them happy makes them so; for those whom he blesses, are blessed indeed." (Matthew Henry commentary)

In verse 4, He says that those who mourn will be blessed.  It's hard to imagine how mourning could be a blessing, but Christ Himself knew what it was to grieve.  He cried when He heard of Lazarus' death and He grieved when He saw how the Jews had turned His temple into a marketplace.  Romans 8:28 says, "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose".  We may question why, but God is never surprised and His plans are never changed.

In the second part of the Matthew 5:4, Jesus says they will be comforted.  Matthew Henry says of the blessing of verse 4 that "they are blessed, for they are like the Lord Jesus, who was a man of sorrows, and of whom we never read that he laughed, but often that he wept".  We serve a God who knows our pain and hears the cries of our heart.  He will never leave or forsake His people, because He is always faithful.  Because of these truths, I know and believe that, even in my mourning, I am blessed, because I will be comforted by the very man of sorrows who bore my sin.