Tuesday, February 23, 2021

Your Daily Slice

ADAR 11

Those Who Mourn

 

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.” (Mat 5:4 NKJV)

 

Most of us are familiar with the story of King David and Bathsheba, a story of adultery and murder (see 2Sam 11–12:23).  Nathan was the prophet chosen by Elohim (2Sam 12:1) to confront and expose the depth of these sins to David; upon doing so, the king’s comment to Nathan was: “I have sinned against Yahweh.”  (2Sam 12:13).  Much of the heart-wrenching teshuva – repentance - that David went through is written for us to bear witness to in Psalm 51.

 

How many of us can say we have truly ‘mourned’ over the sin we have committed in our lives, sin that has brought sorrow to our Abba Father, sin that has grieved Him, disappointed Him?  Have we reached such a place of casualness concerning sin, of expecting and assuming forgiveness, of taking it for granted, of treating it lightly?  Noah Webster’s definition of ‘repentance’ includes “real penitence; sorrow or deep contrition for sin, as an offense and dishonor to God, a violation of His holy law, and the basest ingratitude towards a Being of infinite benevolence”[1].  To mourn is to express much grief, pain and sorrow; genuine repentance for sin should be an area for us to mourn deeply over.

 

For sorrow over the things of YAHWEH works ENDURING REPENTANCE OF THE SOUL, that brings one to life. But the sorrow over the things of the world causes death.”  (2Cor 7:10 NLT, emphasis mine)

 

The promises of Yahweh are “Yea and Amen” (2Cor 1:20).  For those of us who are not ‘just sorry we got caught’ but have spent our season in mourning over our past sinful state, are truly repentant, and have done teshuva, we have the promise of being comforted by the loving arms of our Creator. 

 

Many of us (myself included) have lost loved ones, those especially dear and precious to our hearts.  The opening verse from Matthew is also a promise for us.  Our Abba Father is well acquainted with how it feels to lose someone close to the heart; He lost His Son on the stake, and He has experienced grief.  But He also sends us the Comforter, the Holy Breath of Elohim, not only to comfort, but also to console, to strengthen, and to walk us through the dark days of grief until we come out the other side (John 16:7 Amp).  How great is our God, how merciful, how tender, how loving …

 

“To everything there is a season, A time for every purpose under heaven … a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance …  (Ecc 3:1,4 AMPC)

 

Sing, O heavens, rejoice, O earth! And break out in singing, O mountains! For יהוה shall comfort His people and have compassion on His afflicted ones.” (Isa 49:13)

 

©2021



[1] American Dictionary of the English Language, Noah Webster, 1828

 

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