Blessed When We Grieve

They are blessed who grieve, for God will comfort them.
Matthew 5:4

What does that mean? I’ve known some who believe that it means Christians should never be happy. They believe that we must live with a long face, saddened by life in general and never smiling. Is that what Jesus meant? 

It cannot be. If it was, He would never have said that He came to give us an abundant life. An abundant life is not one that never contains a smile. Yet, sometimes I think we’ve forgotten that there are times when we should grieve. What exactly does the word grieve mean? It means to feel or express grief or sorrow. Did you know that grieving can lead to happiness? How is that? Think about these examples.

In Luke 7 there was a woman who cam and stood at the feet of Jesus weeping. She even washed the feet of Jesus with her tears. She was grieving. Jesus blessed her beyond anything she could have imagined. Then He said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.” (Luke 7:48) Her grieving led to forgiveness.

In Luke 15 the prodigal son grieved the fact that he had given up every blessing he had in order to go to the foreign country. In the foreign country he had found that nothing turned out the way he thought it would. As he was in the pen with the pigs, he mourned the state that he was in. As a result, he returned to his father who was waiting to bless him.

Those who were being taught by Peter and the apostles on the day of Pentecost were grieving the fact that they were the ones who had crucified the Savior. As a result they cried out to Peter and the others asking what they could do. Then Peter said to them, “Peter said to them, 'Change your hearts and lives and be baptized, each one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.' ” (Acts 2:38) The result of this was the salvation of many and the beginning of the Lord’s church. 

Do you want a song for today? We should grieve that there are those who are away from God. We should grieve when we sin because we know the separation it brings between us and God. How will this grieving bring comfort? Just as it did with those above, comfort comes from coming to or returning to the Savior. Comfort comes when we know that we have been saved and that our new home at the end of this life will be in heaven. Our grief leads us to salvation.   This should put a song in your heart for today!