Those who Mourn (1)
The second of the Beatitudes is written in Matthew 5:4 saying, “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.”
In a dictionary, “to mourn” means to feel or express grief or sorrow. Then, is there any of you who think you always have to frown and cry in sorrow from now on to be blessed? I hope none of you will misunderstand this in such a way.
- Fleshly mourning and spiritual mourning
To understand this word correctly, you must understand there are two kinds of mourning. Those are the fleshly mourning and the spiritual mourning.
Fleshly mourning
Mourning from one’s weakness and emotion is the fleshly mourning and it has nothing to do with God nor can it be blessed. People of the world mourn and despair when they are saddened by poverty, disease, weakness or when they get angry because they cannot do what they want.
They cry at a sad movie or they get their feelings hurt and mourn when they have been betrayed by someone or when somebody disappoints them. But this kind of mourning is not the will of God at all. God is not pleased with it either.
Spiritual mourning
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 says, “Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” And Philippians 4:4 says, “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice!” Again here, and in various other places in the Bible, God tells us to be joyful and give thanks.
It is because, even though we have trials, we are God’s children who are saved and are promised the kingdom of heaven. Also, we can fully give thanks because we know that God will answer us when we pray to the God of love about our difficulties. If we have faith, we should be joyful and give thanks as God says. Therefore, mourning of the blessed is not this fleshly mourning but spiritual mourning. Spiritual mourning is the mourning for God’s kingdom and righteousness.
- Categories in spiritual mourning
More specifically, there are more categories in spiritual mourning.
1) First, there is the mourning of repentance
When people first accept the Lord and receive the Holy Spirit, they mourn and repent with tears because they realize that Jesus was crucified for their sins.
Right after I met God, I also mourned and cried with tears in repentance as I learned God’s words in the first revival meeting I attended. I mourned and cried with tears and my nose ran from the beginning to the end of the meeting. Well, I thought I lived righteously and I could live even without law. But, every time that I reflected my life on the word of God, there were so many things that were not the truth. So, I repented crying with tears and rending my heart in every session of the one-week revival. And after repenting with tears for a week, I felt like I could do everything and confidently live by the word of God. After I repented my sins with tears, I received grace and strength from above. So, I could quit smoking and drinking all at once. And I began dawn prayers and lived by the Word of God. I also began to offer my tithe.
You also probably experienced the first love filled with the grace of God and the fullness of the Holy Spirit and having a feeling like flying after repenting like this. However, just the fact that you repented your sins in mourning and received grace does not guarantee that you will not meet with something to mourn over while living in faith. You should be living by the word of God and cast off sins to become sanctified, but you commit sins again due to your weak faith.
You should mourn about your sin again, and at last you must get rid of it through praying and fasting. If you act in faith and gain faith, and if you are faithful workers for the Lord now, you should not have to mourn in repentance like this any more.
It doesn’t mean that you must not mourn about your sins. If you long for the return of the Lord and have the hope to enter New Jerusalem, you should not commit any sin that you have to mourn over. That is, do not commit any sinful acts that you have to mourn over. Please live by the Word.
2) You mourn when you don’t do your duty
You have to pray and teach as stewards for the Lord setting a good example. You have to make spiritual visits and make your cell or mission group grow, but when you don’t do this, you mourn tearing your heart.
3) You spiritually mourn when your brother is going the way of death
When your neighbor sins and goes to the way of death, or when your brother loses strength in trials, you have to encourage him and pray with mourning as if it were your own situation. Feeling pity and mercy for him, you must pray with repentance on behalf of him so that he can act by the truth.
However, someone doesn’t pray with mourning and repentance for others but judges them seeing their errors and the speck in their eyes. He hurts other’s feelings by judging and condemning, or tells somebody else about his error. This kind of person is not proper before God.
Moses repented instead of his people and cried for God’s mercy in exchange for his life when they committed sins and God’s wrath was on them. They were not obedient or lovely but quarreled and complained making things hard for him. But he still loved them and prayed with repentance on behalf of them.
Likewise, you have to pray and repent with mourning for others. How evil he is who judges and condemns others and tries to reveal those errors to someone else! He’s adding evil upon evil. He is piling up his sins before God. Mourning for others is the proper heart before God and this heart of repenting and praying with love for others is the proper heart before God and the heart that is to be blessed.
4) Other kinds of mourning
There is also the mourning for salvation of people. When your family member or relatives or neighbor cannot be saved and is going to death, you pray for their salvation with mourning. Also, there is mourning for the numerous souls who are going to death, for our nation and our people, for the churches, and things that hinder the kingdom of God. These are proper before God.
In the chapter 11 of 2 Corinthians, it is written that the apostle Paul had suffered a lot for preaching the gospel. He had worked hard, been in prison frequently, been flogged severely, and been exposed to death again and again. Five times he received the forty lashes minus one. He spent a night and a day in the open sea. He was hungry and thirsty. He had been cold and naked several times. Of course, he had met robbers, hardships, and persecutions many times and barely escaped from death several times.
But 2 Corinthians 11:28-29 says, “Apart from such external things, there is the daily pressure on me of concern for all the churches. Who is weak without my being weak? Who is led into sin without my intense concern?” The concern of the apostle Paul was for all the churches. It was for the kingdom of God and His righteousness. He didn’t mourn when he was put into the inner cells of prison, bleeding after being flogged and having his feet fastened in the stocks. Rather, he praised God and prayed.
However, for the kingdom of God, God’s righteousness, and for the churches, he mourned and was concerned saying, “Who is weak, and I do not feel weak? Who is led into sin, and I do not inwardly burn?” This mourning he expressed and his concern was not for his own suffering. Also, Acts 20:31 says, “Therefore be on the alert, remembering that night and day for a period of three years I did not cease to admonish each one with tears.”
Those who mourn for the kingdom of God like this mourn and express concern when believers are not able to stand firmly on the word of God and when the churches do not glorify God. They mourn and pray for others’ spirits and souls when they are persecuted in the name of the Lord, though they are not saddened about their own persecutions.
When they see the world getting darkened, they always pray God’s glory may be revealed more greatly and numerous people in the world may be saved through such mourning. Also, even if you mourn for the kingdom of God, you must not mourn until your body gets weak so that you cannot pray or do your duties for the Lord. This will not be good for the works of God. So you must know how to be moderate.
Just shedding tears and saying you’re sorry only with lips is not true mourning. It must be followed by deeds. For example, if you mourned about your sin and repented, you must not commit the same sin but bear the fruit of repentance by casting off your sins. If you mourn for the souls, you must pray for them, preach to them, and visit them earnestly. When you do this true mourning, you will be blessed. That is you will be comforted. Comfort here is from the comfort from God.