Faithful on Fridays Blog

Beatitudes Part Three: Mourning

Here’s the story. A little boy dressed in a white suit ran away from his mother. He was all ready for church, however, he fell into a mud puddle. His mother caught up to him and asked, “What are you doing?” The little boy’s answer was clear: “I’m getting up.” Stay with me as we continue to explore the meaning of the Beatitudes progressing to Jesus’ second strategy for blessing: mourning.

When we think of mourning we naturally tend to think of the loss of a loved one. Although that’s true, that’s not where Jesus was going with this verse. The grief and sorrow that He’s referring to is connected to what we discussed last week. Entry level into kingdom living is maintaining our need for Him and moving naturally into this state of deep regret and repentance. Jesus wants us to have a heart-attitude that’s troubled by our daily (maybe hourly) sin. We are seen by others (remember the word makarios, free from daily worry) as we walk out our faith and are called blessed. 

Before David became king he experienced this type of mourning. Read Ps. 51 and you get a sense of the deep remorse he felt after sinning with Bathsheba. When we walk away from God’s best and go the opposite way, a 180° turn, we miss the mark; that’s the definition of sin. When that happens God desires us to feel sorrow and run to Him as the little boy who fell into the mud puddle shows us. He was getting up, so should we. We have promises in scripture that God is merciful and forgiving when we have this attitude of lament (1 John 1:9) and we will be comforted. 

Forgiveness means we don’t remain in the puddle; we get up, wash up, and keep going toward God’s best for our life. That’s the progression of kingdom living. We don’t stay in our guilt and condemn ourselves, but receive this gift with gratitude and move on. 

Ps. 16 is a Psalm of David entitled a miktam which comes from a root meaning to engrave. I think David was carving out some heart-attitudes in the six Psalms that he called miktams. Listen to this first verse:

Preserve me, O God, for in You I take refuge. I say to the Lord, “You are my Lord; I have no good apart from You.” Psalm 16:1, 2 

This is a cry for help from a man who had turned away from God’s will and toward his own. He declared that there’s refuge, a safe place, in Him. If you’ve read my blogs very long you know how important it is to remain in Him. David seeks help and comfort from God alone in a personal way: You are my Lord. In Christ there is a safe house, a place of escape, a refuge from our sin. Stay in that safe place as you mourn over your sin and rest assured that mourning results in comfort.