When The Mourning Comes

This past week I had the privilege of joining several pastors and leaders from Ukraine in a zoom meeting for prayer over their nation. This was the third time I've been invited to be a part of these weekly online gatherings since the war began. Each week they come together to share their stories, encourage one another, pray, and open the Word together. I'm always at a loss for words as I sit and listen. I've never felt more ill-equipped to minister to a group of people than when I'm in these meetings. What on earth could I possibly say to brothers and sisters facing such circumstances? I joined this week to simply pray with them, but as the meeting unfolded I began to realize there was a strong possibility I might be asked to share a word of encouragement. So, as any preacher probably would, I quietly began sorting through past sermons and memorized scriptures in my head that I could possibly share. I settled on something in Matthew 10 that I've been meditating on. Though I couldn't make a direct application to their circumstance, I was sure the Holy Spirit would make the connection when the time came. Sure enough the Bishop directed his attention to me and said, "Please, share something with us and then lead us in prayer Zach!" What came out of my mouth had absolutely nothing to do with Matthew 10 or any sermon I've ever preached.

THE WORD

"Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted."

When Jesus uttered these words it had to have been the most mentally jarring statement the crowds had heard in some time... at least since the last sermon they had heard from Jesus. And given that this was His first public sermon in Matthew's gospel, perhaps it took the cake.

In this one statement Jesus seemed to be marrying the BLESSING of God with the BROKENNESS of man. How can we call someone blessed who is facing devastation and loss? Simple. Because the blessing is not in the mourning, but in the comforting that comes as a result.

THE GOD OF ALL COMFORT

Comfort is a good thing. We all want to be comfortable. We want our beds to be comfortable, our cars to be comfortable, the temperature to be comfortable... we even want our conversations to be comfortable (anyone else shutter at the thought of an awkward silence?).

Our western culture celebrates and perhaps even worships comfort. But the definition of comfort is "a state of physical ease and freedom from pain or constraint" which means, there is no comfort without PAIN.

As I sat and listened to those Ukranian pastors, many of which have suffered loss because of this war, it dawned on me that they have direct access to a revelation of God that I have only been able to imagine up to this point in my life.

2 Corinthians 1 calls God "the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort..." and Holy Spirit is often referred to as the comforter. These scriptures should signal to us that the life and mission which God has called us will inevitably be filled with pain, suffering, and struggle, otherwise we wouldn't need so much comforting. And thankfully we serve the God through which ALL TRUE comfort comes. We're not talking about the false sense of comfort that comes in the form of momentary pleasure or temporary calm, but rather true comfort that can only originate with the One who can and will redeem all things.

HOW YOU VIEW YOUR SEASON

Jesus was telling us that the blessing of God is not in your brokenness and pain but in the response of the Father to your brokenness and pain. The Psalms say that He is "near to the broken-hearted." Ok, but is God near to those who are not currently suffering? Absolutely He is, but not in the same way.

When I was growing up, every winter we used to bring the space heater out and keep it in the living room throughout the coldest months. I LOVED the space-heater. There was nothing like falling asleep beside it and I would even wake up early in the mornings to get out of bed and go sleep next to it a little longer before school. If you think I'm weird, talk to my mom, I think she keeps it out year-round now (sorry mom, they were judging me).

Here's the thing, I HATED how cold it got in the winter. Winter is always rough to me. Freezing cold temperatures, cars taking forever to heat up, the darkness that invades both the mornings and the late afternoons - winter still stands to be my least favorite season of the year. However, it came with the heater. (Let the record show we've now replaced the space heater in my home with a heated-blanket).

Allow me to make my point already: I wouldn't know the warmth of the heater without the bitter cold of the winter. Sure, summer brings its own warmth, but there's nothing like a taste of summer in the middle of the coldest months. To know God IS the comforter is not the same as knowing God AS the comforter.

So as I prayed with the group this past week this was my prayer: God, may this not be a season of mourning as much as it is a season of comfort. In other words, as we suffer loss and difficulty, my prayer is that more than the scars of struggle we would bear the marks of God's warmth.

CONCLUSION

I don't know what you may be mourning or facing in this season, but Jesus' words still ring true today. You are in a season of blessing. Choose to endure the difficulty with His promise in mind and know that calling yourself blessed in this season is not putting on a strong front, but rather declaring an eternal truth. Blessed are those who mourn, for they WILL be comforted.