“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted” (Matthew 5:4)
Last week we looked at how those that are truly happy are those that mourn. If that statement still bothers you, then perhaps the point has not hit home as it should. Jesus said that the truly blessed (true happiness, inner joy) are those that mourn. Interestingly enough, only those that mourn in this way shall be comforted. So those that mourn in truth are those that have a greater degree of true joy. That may not sound right, but let us remember that Jesus spoke those words. We also have the Word of God speaking from Isaiah 66:10: “Be joyful with Jerusalem and rejoice for her, all you who love her; Be exceedingly glad with her, all you who mourn over her.” Without question this text speaks of people who mourn and are also exceedingly glad.
We should also know that the mourning that is being spoken of here is not the type of mourning that the natural man is able to do. The natural man mourns when he misses a meal, loses some money, or just about anything in which his selfish desires are thwarted. We know that there are types of mourning that are simply sin and nothing but sin: “He said to him, “O son of the king, why are you so depressed morning after morning? Will you not tell me?” Then Amnon said to him, “I am in love with Tamar, the sister of my brother Absalom” (II Samuel 13:4). Here Amnon was depressed or very sad because he could not have physical relations with Tamar. He was, in one sense, mourning over the situation. That type of person is not blessed.
“But Naboth said to Ahab, “The LORD forbid me that I should give you the inheritance of my fathers.” 4 So Ahab came into his house sullen and vexed because of the word which Naboth the Jezreelite had spoken to him; for he said, “I will not give you the inheritance of my fathers.” And he lay down on his bed and turned away his face and ate no food. 5 But Jezebel his wife came to him and said to him, “How is it that your spirit is so sullen that you are not eating food?” (II Kings 21:3-5). Here we have the king of Israel sullen and mourning because he could not have the land and vineyard of another man. He went on to have the man killed. That is not a blessed mourning.
“So Haman took the robe and the horse, and arrayed Mordecai, and led him on horseback through the city square, and proclaimed before him, “Thus it shall be done to the man whom the king desires to honor.”12 Then Mordecai returned to the king’s gate. But Haman hurried home, mourning, with his head covered” (Esther 6:11-12). In this text we have Haman who wanted Mordecai dead. The king had Haman honor Mordecai which sent him home mourning. This was nothing but mourning produced by shame, envy, and even hatred. Haman tried to have Mordecai killed. This is not a blessed type of mourning.
With those examples in mind, we can know with certainty that all types of mourning are not blessed. This means that we must look for those types of mourning that are. Without question we should mourn for sin. All sin is against God (Psa 51:4) as David shows us and then he goes on to set out how he mourned. At the end of the Psalm, verse 17, he says this: “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; A broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.” This contrition of heart over sin includes mourning. It is the heart that has lost its strength from self and any other motive not of God and is pulverized and sorrowful over its sin. That is the proper sacrifice to bring God and without a heart like that to some degree He is not pleased.
But lest we think that mourning is something that we can just work up, Ezekiel 24:23 sets out a different story: “‘Your turbans will be on your heads and your shoes on your feet. You will not mourn and you will not weep, but you will rot away in your iniquities and you will groan to one another.” The text shows that mourning was withheld from these people. Mourning is a gift of God. He must grant a soft heart that mourns over spiritual things. Man cannot do this in his own power. God has to give an understanding of sin and the heart to mourn for it. Romans 1:18-32 shows the other side of the issue. God gives some over to hard hearts and what they do is make excuses for sin and go on in other sin. A hard heart does not care about sin and is a judgment of God. A tender heart, on the other hand, is one that is sensitive to sin because it is against God and will mourn.
We have another example from II Chronicles 34:27: “Because your heart was tender and you humbled yourself before God when you heard His words against this place and against its inhabitants, and because you humbled yourself before Me, tore your clothes and wept before Me, I truly have heard you,” declares the LORD.” In this passage we see that God was pleased when king Josiah had a tender heart toward God and tore his clothes (a sign of sorrow and mourning) and wept before the Lord. Here we see that men should mourn for the sins of the nation. From the context of this passage, Josiah knew that the sins of the nation were against God. So we can make the deduction that a truly tender heart will mourn for the sins of others and even a nation.
How much does the Lord love hearts that mourn? Ezra 9 has a fascinating passage on this: “The LORD said to him, “Go through the midst of the city, even through the midst of Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and groan over all the abominations which are being committed in its midst.” 5 But to the others He said in my hearing, “Go through the city after him and strike; do not let your eye have pity and do not spare.
6 “Utterly slay old men, young men, maidens, little children, and women, but do not touch any man on whom is the mark; and you shall start from My sanctuary.” So they started with the elders who were before the temple.” What would happen if God struck down all those in the churches of today that did not sigh and grown over the abominations that are being done in the churches? Would we be like Abraham pleading for God to spare the church for just a few? But we should at least take notice that this was not a fake mourning and it was of the heart. This type of mourning was accompanied and marked by sighing and groaning. This points to a deep inner pain. The reason they were to mourn was because of the abominations being committed. But in reality, or at least I think it is rather obvious, they were mourning because the abominations were sins against God.
We can also look at Paul’s teaching on the subject in talking to others and then about himself. “You have become arrogant and have not mourned instead, so that the one who had done this deed would be removed from your midst” (I Corinthians 5:2). When we see others sin, instead of allowing the sin to go without comment and instead of being overly harsh and judgmental, we are to mourn over their sin. We then see Paul’s heart at what he would do if the Corinthians did not repent: “I am afraid that when I come again my God may humiliate me before you, and I may mourn over many of those who have sinned in the past and not repented of the impurity, immorality and sensuality which they have practiced (II Cor 12:21). Then as James 4:9 tells us, “Be miserable and mourn and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy to gloom.”
The Scripture commands us to have joy in the Lord and even to rejoice in all things. However, a heart that loves and has joy in God and its neighbors will mourn over sin. God is the most beautiful and glorious Being that there can possibly be. His people should love Him with all of their beings. So when we understand that all sin is actually acts of hatred toward God and enmity against Him, we should mourn for our greatest love. The desires and prayers of the believer are to glorify God and to see His glory manifested in the world. When we see people hating our Beloved and acting with hostility toward Him which does not manifest His glory as we wish, we should mourn and lament this. It is simply a heart that loves God more than all other things. What would our churches look like if we had people that mourned and wept over the sins of the nation rather than being at war with them? What would our neighbors think if we mourned over their sin rather than attacked them over it? What would people in our churches think if we mourned over sinners within the church rather than angrily condemning them? Indeed we are called to denounce sin and out of love point these things out to people and it is love to point out sin to people if we are concerned about them and God’s glory. If we have no true mourning for their sin, perhaps we don’t have the right love for God and our neighbor when we point their sin out.
I hope that it is obvious at this point that mourning is consistent with the greatest of all joy. True mourning comes from a heart that loves God who is the source of all love and joy. True mourning comes out of a heart that is like Christ when He wept over Jerusalem, and yet He wanted His people to be full of His joy. A true mourning is not selfish and always sad over what self wants or self loses, but instead is a heart that God is working Himself into. The presence of God in the hearts of His people brings a heart that sees things a different way. No longer are sinners seen as enemies, but as people to mourn over because of the harm sin is bringing to them, their nation, and the glory of God. Perhaps in the USA we are just too selfish and lukewarm (at best) to have an inward pang for those that are on their way to hell and over God and His glory as it is attacked over and over. Shall we pass more laws or seek God for hearts that will mourn out of true love? Let us always remember that external morality fits very will with the Pharisees. Their spirit is alive and “well” in our day. Could it be that you are more like a Pharisee than one that mourns like Christ? Seek the Lord for a mourning for spiritual things that is moved by joy.
God Loves... Himself 
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