Turning Mourning Into Dancing

Matthew 5:4 Blessed are those who mourn, 

for they shall be comforted.

What’s the result of mourning?  Comfort.  The Greek word is parakaleo – the same word used to describe the work of the Holy Spirit -  His ability to come alongside us and touch us where we need it most. We get that when we mourn over our sin.

Paul knew that comfort. Self-righteous Paul finally figured out he was poor in spirit.  But, just like us, he continued to be frustrated over his condition – the condition he described in Romans 7 :  I do what I shouldn’t do and I don’t do what I should (my paraphrase).  He wrote: in my flesh dwells no good thing. O wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death?  Paul not only realized his spiritual poverty, he mourned over it. But, Paul discovered comfort and he wrote about it as he closed the chapter:  I thank God – through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Through Jesus Christ we can experience the deliverance we so long for and part of that deliverance is deliverance from that awful, awful nagging feeling of guilt that we can’t deny and we can’t stuff and we can’t get rid of on our own.

How do we get it ? I’m not talking about getting comfort here.  We get comfort when we mourn, when we sorrow over our sin.  So, how do we get to the place where we mourn in such a way that we are comforted and not ridden with more guilt and more sorrow?

1.  We ask God to show us how He sees what we have done.

2.  We ask God to reveal and remove the hindrances – hardness of heart, fear, resisting the Holy Spirit, doubt, protective walls – you know what they are if you would slow down enough to let God deal with them.

3.  We confess.  Confession is agreeing with God.  That’s why #1 is so important.

4.  We believe God about what He says He does when we confess.  He forgives us.  He treats us like it didn’t happen.  He restores us.  He gets us going again.

5.  We believe that, as believers, we have the power to move on and stand up against that sin/resist it.We believe that we have been set free.

    Doing these things, believing these things, results in tremendous comfort.

How do you know you don’t have it?  How do you know your mourning is not the kind of sorrow Jesus speaks of here?

1.  Your regret is placed in how the sin has affected you or someone else, rather than how it has affected God.

2.  Your regret is due to the consequences.

3.  You don’t experience God’s comfort. 

You see, mourning the way Jesus speaks of will result in experiencing God’s comfort.  If it doesn’t, it is not conviction of sin that you are experiencing, it is condemnation or guilt.  If we are not experiencing comfort after we have confessed, then what we did was not wrong to God – it’s something we are beating ourselves up for, or we do not believe the price paid on the cross is enough and we still need to feel guilty or punish ourselves.  When we do that, we are saying, we have higher standards than God does.  We are saying we still need to pay – and, listen carefully - we decide (not God) when we have paid enough. If mourning over our sin does not lead to comfort, it is not mourning, but rather paying for our sin.  God never asked us to do that.

Have you learned to mourn over you sin like Paul did?  Then you will rejoice as Paul did and you will thank God for the work of Jesus in your life.  Use the comment section to thank Him for taking all of your guilt and shame (or any thoughts you may have related to today's blog)

Psalm 30:11 You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; You have put off my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness. Praise His glorious name.

Love in Jesus,

Cathy