Blessed Are Those Who Mourn

Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

-Matthew 5:4

To mourn -- loud lament, a deep gut-wrenching sorrow in relationship to sin.

Our pastor is preaching a series of sermons from Matthew 5. This past Sunday he preached from verse 4. I have thought about this message many times since Sunday. As we prayed Sunday evening and Monday evening prior to the elections I was thinking of my sin and how necessary it is for me to allow the Holy Spirit to convict me of my sins and for me to respond through confession and repentance. I was also reminded of the level of immorality that has been absorbed into the fabric of our nation. There is a need for mourning over the sin that is in my life and there is a need to mourn over the level of sin in our society. As the nation voted I was aware of how deeply sorrowful I was becoming. Sorrowful that so many people could condone the killing of innocent lives through abortion. Sorrowful that just the day before I had watched a clip of the person who would be our next president giving an electrifying speech embracing homosexuals. His level of comfort and casual manner of including homosexuals in his speech caused such grief to burst into my being. But Matthew 5:4 seems to say that it is okay to mourn. In fact, there is a comfort for those who mourn that is not available to those who do not. I remember after 9/11 feeling that as individuals and as a nation we were not allowed to mourn. We could not show weakness to the world. It was necessary to let those who attacked us, and those who watched from afar, know that America was strong and would not be broken by terrorists' attacks. I remember how patriotic I felt and how proud I was to be an American, but I also remember feeling robbed of the opportunity to truly mourn. I wonder if anything would have been different if we would have been allowed, as individuals and as a nation, to mourn. As we are set to begin four years under this new administration I am wondering, as a Christian, am I willing to mourn? To truly mourn and be sorrowful over the sin that plagues our nation? O Lord, holy and righteous One, our sin is ever before us. It is against You that we have sinned. Help me, Lord, to not quickly set aside the sorrow over sin. Let me mourn knowing that your word says that I will be comforted.