Brokenness, Promise and Comfort

Reading: Matt 5:4

"Blessed (happy) are those who mourn;
for they shall be comforted."
Matt. 5:4 NKJ

If the word 'blessed' means happy or fortunate; how can mourning be happy? And where is the comfort anyway? In the post Blessed are those who Mourn we saw how the mourning spoken of is not necessarily those in bereavement, but those who experience the sorrow of repentance. Godly sorrow is not to be regretted because it leads us to salvation. This salvation is eternal life; but it is also life now. A whole new life opens up before us. Old things pass away and everything becomes new. (2 Cor 5:17) When we are open before God, see His perspective in life situations, we recognize our sin and experience the sorrow of repentance. Then in asking the Spirit to change us; genuine transformation takes place. With a Spirit led life, much of the misery caused by sin is avoided. Besides we are truly happy and blessed when Christ lives in us. He is perfect love, perfect joy and perfect peace. (Shalom, Shalom = Perfect Peace) We experience His nature with true conversion and salvation. Then no matter what comes our way, we are one with God, one with His nature.

Peter preached an anointed sermon at Pentecost to a crowd and they were cut to the heart and asked the apostles "... what shall we do?" Peters reply was:

"Repent... be baptized...and 
you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
For the Promise is to you and your children."
Acts 2:37-39 NKJ

The promise and the gift is the Spirit Himself!
Jesus sends us the gift of the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father. John 15:26 He refers to the Holy Spirit in John 14-16 as the Comforter. He is our Comforter, Counselor, Helper, Advocate, Intercessor and Strengthener. When we experience the sorrow of repentance, we receive the promise of the Holy Spirit who is our comfort.

Sometimes we haven't sinned or done anything to cause the brokenness and sorrow we experience. Sometimes we just go through seasons of grief from living in a world still under the curse of Adam's sin. We will experience death and loss. Jesus said, "in this world you shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world.' John 16:33

Be blessed by some precious verses on comfort, mourning and brokenness:

Gethsemane Detail  by Carl Bloch

"Blessed be the God and 
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
the Father of mercies 
and God of all comfort,
who comforts us in our tribulation,
that we may be able to 
comfort those who are in any trouble,
with the comfort with which 
we ourselves are comforted by God."
2 Cor. 1:3, 4 NKJ
 

"The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because the Lord has anointed Me to preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,.. to comfort all who mourn, to console those who mourn in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes, The oil of joy for mourning, The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness." 

Isa 61:1-3 NKJ

"He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds (sorrows)."
Psalm 147:3 NKJ
 

"For thus says the High and Lofty One,
Who inhabits eternity, whose name is holy:
I dwell in the high and holy place,
With him who has a contrite and humble spirit, 
To revive the spirit of the humble,
and to revive the heart of the contrite ones... "
Isa 57:15 NKJ

I love all these verses, but look at the last one. Do you want to be there with the High and Lofty One? Look who He dwells with... him who has a contrite and humble spirit. This is who He revives, look to Him.

There are seasons we go through in life. Sometimes it is the newness of spring, the abundance of summer, the harvest of autumn. Then the cold winds begin to blow and the trees lose their colorful robes. Soon everything looks gray and bleak; and the trees are naked. Yes naked and their once beautiful robes have fallen to the ground and blown away. The tree is now exposed, every flaw to be seen by all. But all is not bleak. You see, in winter the sap in the vines and tree's goes deep within the core of the tree. Winter is here. When you are in a winter place, go deep in the vine, abide in Him, our True Vine, and then listen for the voice of your beloved:

"Arise, my darling, my beautiful one and come with me.
See! The winter is past; the rains are over and gone.
Flowers appear on the earth; the season of singing has come...
Arise, come, my darling; my beautiful one, come with me."
Song of Songs 2:10-13 NIV