Mourning

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Friday morning, 15th July 2022, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

Matthew 5:4 says:

“Blessed are those who mourn,
For they shall be comforted.”

Mourning is an important part of a person’s life. So often we try to stop people from mourning, weeping and being sad (not intentionally) at the loss of a very important person in their life, maybe their life partner, their wife or their husband. We want to try and cheer them up, we tell them to pull themselves together and get on with life. That is wrong. There is a time for mourning, when people need to be quiet, to contemplate and to allow the Holy Spirit to comfort them. Jesus knows that only too well.  

The story in the Bible in John 11 tells us clearly that when Mary and Martha lost their brother, one of Jesus’ best friends, they were very, very sad. They were weeping and beside themselves actually, mourning the loss of their brother. When Jesus came into town He was four days late, but He wasn’t really. He was spot on on time. Of course, the people didn’t know that and Mary and Martha said, “Lord, if you had come in time you would have healed our brother.” Jesus knew that Lazarus was about to be raised from the dead and yet in John 11:35, there are two words, “Jesus wept.” Why did He weep? He wept because He had compassion for those who were mourning. People who are hurting and people who have lost loved ones need to be comforted. They need to be comforted by the love of God because that is the only thing they can hear. The worst thing to do to someone who is mourning is to quote scripture verses to them, to tell them it is going to be okay, get up and get going. No! The best thing you can do with someone who is mourning, and I have been in that position many times myself - is to put their arm around you and weep with you. That will comfort a mourner more than anything else. We really need to understand that they are in deep distress and they need to be loved.

Many years ago, when William Booth, the Founder of the Salvation Army, had sent some of his men and women to far-off countries to preach the Gospel, they would write back to him and say that they were getting no response from preaching the Gospel. William Booth replied in a letter with two words, “Try tears.”

I want to say to you today, that we also need to weep with those who are mourning and that will comfort them more than anything else.

Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day.

Goodbye.