Week 2- REPENTANT HEARTS - 1

Blessed are those who mourn,

for they will be comforted.

Matthew 5:4

I'll have to be honest, yesterday's SS lesson on Matthew 5:4 was hard for me to get a handle on. It was hard to teach. And, frankly, I didn't do a very good job of it. That makes me doubly thankful for the opportunity to rehash it here on the blog and allow the Lord to continue speaking it into my heart.

One of the blessings in being a "teacher" is that I always learn far more than I would if I were not preparing to teach. Knowing that I have the privilege of serving the Word to others makes me want to dig deeper - understand more.

But, one of the hardest things (at least for me) about teaching is that when I am studying something the Lord is using to do a private work in me, the demands of preparing the lesson steal some of the time I need for processing and applying the truths into my own life. I'm not sure that will make sense to others. By nature, my thought processes are slow and methodical. When God is speaking to me about changes He wants to bring about in my life, I don't always get it "instantly." Most of the time, it's a process that takes time - time spent before Him in repentance - time spent before Him to hear and comprehend His instruction... listening time. Quiet. Being still time. That's kind of "where I've been" the last few weeks.

That made preparing a lesson on REPENTANT HEARTS even more meaningful to me - and yet, it was a lesson I found myself needing a bit more time to "absorb" before I had to speak it out. OH. I am SO thankful teaching truth from God's Word doesn't depend on me! I am SO thankful the Holy Spirit can and DOES communicate God's truths to listeners IN SPITE of the vehicle He has available! ALWAYS - it is HIM that does any teaching of value.

It's hard to understand how grief can make us happy. At first glance it seems so paradoxical it doesn't even make sense. . . especially when you realize that when Jesus said "Blessed (happy) are those who mourn ..." He used a word that meant the strongest kind of grief - wailing, lamenting, groaning. In effect, He was saying, "Blessed are those who are overwhelmed with grief." How can we be happy if we are overwhelmed with grief?

The answer lies in the completion of His sentence - "for they will be comforted." Got that? Not "might be comforted" but "WILL be comforted." It's a promise. It's a sure thing. But what is this comfort?

It's nice to have others sympathize with us and "feel" our pain when we experience a loss. But, guess what .... that's not the comfort Jesus is talking about. The word He used to promise us comfort when we are overwhelmed by grief is a word that means "to strengthen, to encourage."

Jesus knows that while we are on this earth, we will have troubles (John 16:33). But He also knows that He can strengthen and encourage us (comfort) in the very midst of our overwhelming grief in such a way that our very lives will be blessed (happy) because of it.

BIBLICAL MOURNING is embracing the sorrow that comes into our lives for the purpose of renewal. It is allowing our sorrows to change us and conform us to the image of Christ, who Himself, was known as a Man of Sorrows (Isaiah 53:3). When we grieve in a godly (biblical) way, we endure our sorrows knowing that God is in the process of our grief - not just our deliverance from it.

There are basically three different kinds of sorrow that come into believers lives:
Natural sorrow
Unnatural sorrow
and Supernatural sorrow

We'll talk about the first two today. Natural sorrow is, of course, the kind of sorrow, grief or loss that comes to everybody: saved and unsaved, rich and poor, young and old. It's just a natural (though unwelcome) part of life on this planet. What is our natural response to overwhelming grief when it enters our life?

Most of us cry.

And that's exactly what God made us to do. Our tears are God-given. Scripture says Abraham wept when Sarah died. It tells us about Jesus weeping outside the tomb of His friend Lazarus. It tells us about Him weeping over His beloved city of Jerusalem. It tells us that Paul wept and so did the believers at Ephesus when they bid one another good-bye. God expects us to cry. He made us that way. Ecclesiastes 3:4 tells us there is "a time to weep and a time to laugh."

Our tears are an expression of love and acceptance. There is healing in crying over our sorrows. Our tears release a healing process in our lives that enables us to accept the pain, work our way through it, and adjust to life again. That's NATURAL SORROW.

But there is also UNNATURAL SORROW - and that's when our sorrow is not handled in a godly manner. The effects of unnatural sorrow on our lives are the opposite to what God wants us to experience. It doesn't help us heal like grieving biblically does. It makes our wounds deeper and keeps our heart filled with pain. It tears things apart in our relationships and keeps them that way because it isolates us from reality (and from others) and makes it difficult for us to adjust to the demands of life. By contrast, grief that is processed biblically helps us put our lives back together and helps us learn to face and accept our new reality.

David's response to his son Absalom's death is a biblical example of UNNATURAL SORROW. You can read the story in 2 Samuel 15-18.

Absalom tried to take the kingdom away from David - and almost succeeded. He secretly launched a rebellion against his father, drove David and his forces from Jerusalem and took over the palace. Absalom planned to attack David's forces and wipe them out but instead lost his own life in the battle. When David heard that Absalom had been killed in the battle, he went into deep despair and said, "O my son Abasalom! My son, my son Absalom! If only I had died instead of you - O Absalom, my son, my son!" (2 Sam. 18:33)

We might understand, and even admire, David's love for his son, but we have to question his thinking . . . would it have been better for the nation for the king God had anointed to die and the rebellious Absalom to live? No. Unnatural sorrow distorted David's grasp of truth and reality.

2 Samuel 19 tells us that David's soldiers were actually ashamed of their victory because it brought such sorrow to their king. David refused to be comforted. Why?

Psychologists tell us that unnatural sorrow often falls into one of three categories:

• Selfishness - The grieving person is self-centered and all they can think about is how their loss affects them and their lifestyle.
• Fear - The grieving person is afraid of the changes their loss will bring - afraid of the future - possibly even afraid of death itself.
• Guilt - I think this is the one that applied most to David. Carrying a load of guilt is often a way of trying to atone for past failures.

David may well have still been carrying a load of guilt from his sin with Bathsheba and the consequences it had brought into his life and family. His excessive grief was an attempt to atone for that guilt.

God doesn't want us to atone for our sins. He wants us to confess them and receive His forgiveness. Here's the bottom line, sweet sisters, the comfort of God comes to those who trust the grace of God, not to those who try to earn God's comfort by unnatural sorrow.

Our sorrow may be a result of our sins - David's was - but we can confess those sins, received God's forgiveness and experience His comfort.

Tomorrow we will talk about the third kind of sorrow - SUPERNATURAL SORROW - the sorrow this Beatitude is primarily talking about.

Until then - thank God for the healing gift of tears. Thank Him for His comfort that strengthens and encourages you when you feel overwhelmed by sorrow and loss. Thank Him for giving you biblical guidelines for grieving that help you heal and accept reality even when it isn't a "reality" you would have chosen. Thank Him for enabling you to face the demand of your life.