“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.”

Recently, while reading through the minor prophets in the Old Testament, the subject of mourning has intrigued me –for mourning was certainly a common thing in Old Testament Israel. But not only is it common in Old Testament Judaism, it’s also mentioned here by Jesus in the New Testament, and a great blessing is pronounced on the one who mourns. So what is the deal with mourning?

First off, doesn’t there seem to be some sort of stigma in today’s Christian circles when it comes to mourning? We New Testament, American Christians just seem to have trouble with it (excluding, of course, when people mourn over the loss of their outward comforts). We’re supposed to have joy, remember? We’re supposed to be excited for what the Lord has done, right? So goes popular opinion, it seems.

But in a society which mourns very little (for it would ruin the insatiable pursuit of pleasure and revelry), we Christians have sort of adapted to our surroundings. Mourning just isn’t popular; it certainly doesn’t win friends, influence people, and pack out auditoriums. Instead, we’re constantly being told to ‘show unbelievers how happy Jesus has made us‘, and to put on a smile in all circumstances, as if this will cause others to see something different in us. I just don’t get that, from a biblical sense; and I don’t even get it from a logical sense. For anyone with a brain can see right through this kind of facade, which ends up doing even worse damage to the Christian banner. Jesus our Lord and perfect example certainly didn’t put on or teach this type of deception; He was said to be ‘a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief’. We don’t even have a record of Him laughing at all!

It should be clear that it isn’t thought of much in our culture, so what exactly am I trying to get at? What does exactly does it mean to mourn? Well first, it should be obvious that simple tears does not fully capture the idea of mourning. Mourning is much deeper than that; true mourning is when the heart breaks in anguish, with intense sorrow. It isn’t simply shedding tears; it’s anguish of the soul, and an attitude of the heart that will affect how we live.

Consider just two passages with me:

Amos 6:5-6
“Woe to those who lie on beds of ivory
and stretch themselves out on their couches,
and eat lambs from the flock
and calves from the midst of the stall,
who sing idle songs to the sound of the harp
and like David invent for themselves instruments of music,
who drink wine in bowls
and anoint themselves with the finest oils,
but are not grieved over the ruin of Joseph!

I was struck with conviction upon reading this portion of scripture. O how we live as if the Church was not headed for ruin! O how we act as if we can pamper ourselves, entertain ourselves, and live a life of ease while the Truth lies fallen in the street! Is it not so, in this plentiful land, where we have the easiest lives in all of human history? Our conduct clearly communicates that all is perfectly well in the land, and in the Church! Don’t actions speak louder than words?

Consider as well:

Daniel 10:2-3 “In those days I, Daniel, was mourning for three weeks. I ate no delicacies, no meat or wine entered my mouth, nor did I anoint myself at all, for the full three weeks.”

Daniel truly mourned. He mourned over his sin. He mourned over the sins of the people. He mourned over the pagan land. And he didn’t pamper himself when his heart was truly broken over it all.

I must confess: I don’t mourn like Daniel. No doubt about it, my sin and the sins of my surroundings are lamented over on a regular basis. But do I really mourn? Do you really mourn? When we rise from our knees, where we just spent a time of mourning over all the wickedness of our hearts and of this land, what do we then do? Go and fill ourselves at the dinner table? Fill our hearts and time with glad songs, distractions, amusements, entertainments, as if all were well?

Sometimes I am broken to nothing, and even though I might pour out my soul to God in private, O how you couldn’t tell from my lifestyle that I really cared one bit. What shame! Is it not true of you as well?

When we truly mourn, we will truly walk with brokenness in all walks of life –all while pouring our hearts out to our only help and refuge: the Lord Jesus Christ, who sympathizes with our weaknesses, having Himself been one acquainted with sorrow and grief.

So if you mourn, mourn with sincerity, in truthfulness, as if your cause for mourning was more than just a passing thought. Jesus Himself blesses you, and promises you comfort in His graces…

“…we should pray that we may learn to be thankful to Him for those mercies we have received from Him. For if God should bestow mercies upon us unasked we would forget them…What we win with prayer, we wear with thankfulness. And what we get without prayer, we spend and use without any lifting up of the heart to God in praising Him, and acknowledging His hand in bestowing it upon us….”"…There is no day where we do not use many of His blessings and take many of His comforts. Now we may not take any of them without His permission, so that you are bound to ask for them before you take them, and pray a blessing upon them, or else you have no right to them…if we neglect [prayer/thankfulness], we rob God of His mercies. We take them without His permission.” – Taken from The Puritans on Prayer, in the section penned by John Preston

A misunderstanding and confusion on law versus grace? Works versus true faith? That might be a good place to start, but there seems to be something just a little deeper.

A misunderstanding and error regarding the sovereignty of God and the sinfulness of sin which leaves men dead in their sins and unable to save themselves? Again, a great place to start –for arminianism and a belief in free will has indeed infected this country like a deadly plague. But there seems to be something just a little deeper.

The glory of God as the end of the gospel
A good way to sum up where the church in our culture has largely abandoned the gospel would be to say that we’ve made Christianity all about us and our needs instead of all about God and His glory. We seem to have turned our backs on a holy and perfect God who cannot overlook sin and still be just, and have instead looked first and foremost at ourselves, that is, at our needs, our wants, our desires, our anything here and now. Jesus has turned into our means to get what we want, both now and in eternity, instead of the end to which we abandon everything to obtain.

As I read David Brainerd, I am struck dumb with how deeply he recognized sin within his own heart, and how he had such a beautiful view of the glory of God. Again and again we read of him praying, reading scripture, attending church, indeed all the religious duties you could think of, and yet he repeatedly comes back to his journal and laments of his self-righteousness and how he is simply trying to commend himself to God. There is no doubt, reading Brainerd’s journal is like stepping into another world.

I read Brainerd and am often left wondering how my prayers could be so self-centered instead of Christ-centered. I read Brainerd, and the countless ways I have attempted to commend myself to God over the years becomes painfully clear. I read Brainerd and I see such a love and a passion for the glory of God –and that alone, that I am humbled to the dust because of my own self-righteousness.

I would humbly propose that you read Brainerd’s words below and search your own heart as well. There has been such a corporate and superficial church built up in our culture, that meditating on the depths of one’s sin is very rare indeed. May you search your own heart, and may God be glorified in you humbling yourself before His mighty hand.

Quotes taken out of The Hidden Smile of God, by John Piper:

David Brainerd quarreled with the fact that there was nothing he could do in his own strength to commend himself to God.

“…all of my good frames [i.e., devotional states] were but self-righteousness, not bottomed on a desire for the glory of God.”

“There was no more goodness in my praying than there would be in my paddling with my hands in the water…because [my prayers] were not performed from any love or regard to God…I never once prayed for the glory of God.”

“I never once intended His honor and glory…I had never once acted for God in all my devotions…I used to charge them with sin…[because] of wanderings and vain thoughts…and not because I never had any regard in them to the glory of God.”