Matthew 5:4 “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

Galatians 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is … joy…

        

Some questions that arise from these verses are:

1. What exactly does it mean to mourn?
2. How will those who mourn be comforted?
3. What is joy?
4. What does joy have to do with mourning or comfort?
5. How do we apply these things?

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO MOURN?

         The first thing to understand in Matthew 5:4 is that the blessed are those who God approves of and could very well be translated as “God approves of” instead of “blessed are” – it would then read “God approves of those who mourn, for they shall be comforted”.  To translate blessed as happy here would seem to be a rather odd translation, almost as if the person described here is schizophrenic!  “Happy is the person who is weeping or in mourning” or “happy is the person who is sad”!

         The second thing to look at is what type of mourning would be acceptable to God.  Plenty of people mourn over a great variety of things:

1. Loss of a loved one – typically the younger the harder it is.
2. Breaking up of a family – divorce.
3. Loss of income or job.
4. Relational betrayal.
5. Loss of a pet.
6. Health decline.
7. Abortion/miscarriage.
8. Having a prodigal child.
9. Loss of freedoms.
10. Unfulfilled dreams or goals.

Dealing with these kinds of issues in our lives can have very negative effects.  Depression, anxiety, discouragement, anger, and bitterness, just to name a few.  These types of mourning can also consume a great deal of our time and energy and some of them we might NEVER work through or get over.  Time does not heal all wounds!

And it’s not like mourning is a bad thing in these areas as it is a necessary step in the grieving process.  It’s something even Jesus did during His life and ministry here on earth.

Occasion #1 – Lazarus’ death

John 11:32 Now when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet, saying to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”

John 11:33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled.

John 11:34 And he said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.”

John 11:35 Jesus wept.

         Occasion #2 – Jerusalem

Luke 19:41 And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it,

Luke 19:42 saying, “Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes.

Luke 19:43 For the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side

Luke 19:44 and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you. And they will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know the time of your visitation.”

Occasion #3 – to the Father

Hebrews 5:7 In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence.

Hebrews 5:8 Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered.

 

Tears of Love

 

I asked the Lord to give me love –

His love for souls in sin;

Instead He gave me weeping eyes,

A broken heart within.

 

I asked Him why He gave me tears,

He took me back in time

To when my Savior lived on earth,

When He was in His prime.

 

I saw Him go to where His friend

Was lying in a grave;

The sisters and their friends were grieved –

What love to them He gave.

 

You see my Savior standing there

Was also grieved that day,

He wept great heaving tears with sobs

Till those who saw could say:

 

“Behold we see now how He loved.”

His tears revealed His heart

His love was evident through tears –

I saw God’s point in part.

 

And then He took me to the day

The people hailed their King

While Jesus enters to their cheers

The children run and sing.

 

But when He saw Jerusalem

Stretched out before His eye,

His soul was moved with grief for them;

It moved His heart to cry.

 

 

Oh, as I read those solemn words

I feel that they are sweet

For in them I behold His love

So perfect and complete.

 

To one more place He took me now,

At midnight I beheld

The Son of God bowed down with grief

In deepest sorrow held.

 

I heard His weeping, strong and deep,

But through it I discerned

He prayed for me – it melted me,

His love for me I learned.

 

With tearful joy I thanked the Lord

For answering my prayer,

For giving me His love for souls –

His tears, His heart, His care.

 

Poem by Christina Joy Hommes

(Hope Refined website – lots of poems!)

 

Sin has impacted all of creation (Romans 8:20-22).  Both the believers and unbelievers feel the effects of that sin.  Both feel loss and grieve or mourn.  We also know from Scripture that only believers are approved by God, not unbelievers (Romans 8:5-10). If only one group is approved by God in their mourning, then the type of mourning or grief must be unique.  It must be something the one group is willing to mourn over that the other group is not.

It must also be a type of mourning that seeks to honor God.  The first beattitude is about the poor in spirit, or spiritually bankrupt person, who is humble and lowly and totally dependent on God.  The second one here speaks of one who now mourns and that is over their sin.  The spiritually bankrupt person recognizes their inadequacy and failings and what an offense those are to a holy God, and the right response to that is to mourn.  It is that kind of Godly sorrow that produces fruit and that fruit is repentance! 

2Corinthians 7:8 For even if I made you grieve with my letter, I do not regret it—though I did regret it, for I see that that letter grieved you, though only for a while.

2Corinthians 7:9 As it is, I rejoice, not because you were grieved, but because you were grieved into repenting. For you felt a godly grief, so that you suffered no loss through us.

2Corinthians 7:10 For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death. 

The natural man does not understand the things of God and in fact the things of God are actually foolishness to them!  They do not understand how they offend God, that they need to confess and repent, they don’t fully understand what sin is and can only relate that concept to their consciences or other people.  Sin is falling short of God’s perfect, righteous, holy standard (Romans 3:23) and that is the only standard for understanding what sin is. 

It's only after his conversion that the Apostle Paul fully understands the concept of what sin is and can then say this:

1Timothy 1:15 The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.

1Timothy 1:16 But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life.

Before his conversion Paul (Saul back then) thought of his actions as just and righteous and was part of a religious system that was all about being self-righteous.  All of that changed drastically when Jesus got a hold of his heart.  A changed heart leads to changed thoughts, words, and actions.  Before his conversion he was unapproved, after, he was approved by God.  Before, he thought he was “righteous”, after, he was “declared righteous” in Christ.  Before, he thought his sin was minimal, after, he knew his sin was offensive, prideful, and all encompassing.  Before, he relied on himself and was proud, after, he relied on God and was made humble.  Before, Paul mourned like the rest of the fleshly unsaved world does and had no real comfort or joy, after, he mourned over his sin in a Godly way that led to comfort and a joy that no situation or person could ever take away from him!

HOW WILL THOSE WHO MOURN BE COMFORTED?

It seems almost an odd requirement that to receive comfort one must mourn!

Comfort is something we all seek in various ways throughout our lives.  Unfortunately, we can waste a lot of time looking for that comfort in all the wrong places!

1. Alcohol and other substances help you avoid looking at the issue that leads you to seek comfort in the first place. For the moment you may imagine you have found relief, but you have only masked the problem driving it deeper and deeper.
2. Comfort foods are similar. Rather than enduring anxiety, stress, or shame, comfort foods are used for temporary avoidance. As with using alcohol or other mind-altering substances, your mood may improve for the moment, but you will be worse off later (and most likely unhealthier which leads to more anxiety and stress).
3. Nail biting, picking at yourself, hair pulling, and other compulsive habits also provide momentary comfort or distraction. How soothing can something be if the end result is shaming or self-mutilating?
4. Often, turning to an ex or sex for comfort will only give you a dose of shame and a greater need for comfort.
5. Looking to social media platforms for reassurance or comfort often backfires and leads to more doubt and anxiety and loneliness.
6. Different forms of entertainment to escape reality are only comforting until the credits role and that can lead to an even greater sense of disfunction, having to then go back to the “real world”, while wanting to stay in a pretend one.
7. Other people.  This one is the most destructive in some ways, as the one seeking comfort can become burdensome and exhausting to others, and other people will undoubtedly fail in various ways – leading to distrust, feelings of isolation, betrayal, and sometimes even suicide.

Imagine how much time, money, and energy is spent around the idea of comfort!  The majority of advertising is spent on the idea that if you only had this product then it would bring some level of comfort to your life.  You’d be happier, safer, more content, more fulfilled – and more dependent on “the latest stuff” to bring you momentary comfort.

Medical issues related to stress and anxiety, along with medical issues relating to all of the addictive behaviors that try to alleviate that stress and anxiety!

Psychological therapy, aimed at “curing or healing” you in some way and giving you the human tools and steps to becoming more whole and comforted as you make your way through this often cruel and unfair world.

A lot of the ungodly “world system” runs off of the idea that without God, people are insecure and seeking comfort, and the Devil is making sure that we are looking in all the wrong places!  Imagine if we looked in the right place:

God of All Comfort

2Corinthians 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of ALL comfort,

2Corinthians 1:4 who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.

2Corinthians 1:5 For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.

2Corinthians 1:6 If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer.

2Corinthians 1:7 Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort.

If God is the God of “all comfort”, then any form of comfort that does not come from God will be incomplete or unsatisfactory.  That is to say that anyone who is seeking comfort for any reason will only truly find what they need in God.  Nothing else is even a close second.  The word for comfort in Greek is:

G3874   παράκλησις   paraklēsis   29x  

a calling upon, exhortation, incitement, or persuasion, to be a cheering and supporting influence, comfort, consolation or encouragement to another.

It means properly “one who is summoned to the side of another”, or “one who is summoned to plead a cause.” “Advocate” or “Helper” is the proper rendering of the word in every case where it occurs, and it refers to the action of the “helper” in a positive manner – bringing relief and comfort to those in need.

Who is our advocate or helper?

John 14:15 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.

John 14:16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever,

John 14:17 even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.

The Helper will never leave us…ever!  And only believers (people who are poor in spirit and those who mourn over their sins) can receive this Helper.

John 14:26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.

The Helper will be your teacher and guide.  He will focus on all of Jesus and His ministry and teachings.

John 16:7 Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.

John 16:8 And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment:

The Helper will do the job of convicting others of their shortcomings – meaning we can let go of revenge and retaliation.

John 16:13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.

You will hear and know the truth!  No more half-truths or lies or deception.  How much comfort is there in knowing the truth and having that set you free?

The Holy Spirit is a live-in comforter that will be with you forever, teaching and guiding you into all truth, convicting the world of their dependence on lies, sin, and addictions, and leading you into a life that is pleasing to the Father – the one who designed and created you in the first place!  How can you not come to Him for comfort? Why do we ever look anywhere else?

1John 2:1 My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.

1John 2:2 He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.

Jesus is also our comforter/helper…even when we fall short as Christians, Jesus is there to stand up for us with what He accomplished on the cross.  He stood in judgment in our place and completed our penalty that was due on the cross.  We take comfort in knowing that we have already been cleansed for the all the sins we will ever commit.  This is never a license to keep on sinning, but a reminder of God’s love and grace in our lives.  That is certainly most comforting!  And nothing here on earth can replace that kind of comfort because it is complete and eternal.  Everything the world has to offer is temporary and ineffective.  Yet, what is the default go to when we are seeking after comfort and help?

WHAT IS JOY?

Is it:            Joy to the world.

All the boys and girls.

Joy to the fishes in the deep blue sea.

Joy to you and me.

Or is it:       Joy to the world,

the Lord is come.

Let Earth receive her King.

5479. χαρά chara, khar-ah´; 59 times; cheerfulness, i.e. calm delight: — gladness, exceedingly joyful, or joyous.

Joy is something that is to be evident in the life of a believer.  Even as Jesus warns that the world will hate us and that we will suffer as His followers, we are expected to be at peace and show joy!  Clearly, joy is not some emotional response to our circumstances.  That would be more along the lines of what we would call “happiness”.  We are constantly concerned about being happy and that others are happy as well – “do whatever makes you happy” or “I just want you to be happy” or “the most important thing in life is to be happy, nothing else matters”.  There are far more important “h” words that God values in your life – such as holiness, humility, honesty, helping others, and honoring God would top the list.  As far as happiness goes what would make a sinner happy anyway?  Following their heart which is desperately wicked, deceitful, and spiritually dead?  Having others accept their sinful passions and desires as normal so they can feel better about themselves and do them without feeling guilty?  Doing whatever they want, whenever they want, so they can be at the center of a selfish merry-go-round?  YECHHH!!!

Godly joy is not something that can be conjured up apart from the Holy Spirit.  I know some of us are awful stubborn and strong-willed, but even we cannot consistently and easily emit the kind of joy that the Scriptures are talking about. 

Philippians 4:4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice.

Our joy is found in a person (the Lord), not in a circumstance or situation.  That person is unchanging, eternal, and loves us even before we loved Him.  That kind of joy is always and forever rooted in God.

Romans 15:13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.

Joy is tied to peace, believing and hope!  Our hope is in God, our peace can only be found in God, and that is only if our belief is in God!  All of these are what fill us with joy…our belief gives us joy because we know the truth and it has set us free.  Our peace gives us joy because the cares of this world no longer have a stranglehold on us, and we can look at everything with an eternal picture in mind.  And our hope gives us joy because it is rooted in the one who conquered death and promises us an eternal kingdom as sons and not condemnation as we deserve.

1Peter 1:8 Though you have not seen him, you love him. though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory,

1Peter 1:9 obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

Our joy is rooted in our faith, and it is filled with glory and inexpressible!  Can you imagine how much joy that is?  It’s almost as if we are about to explode because we cannot contain it!   That’s how much joy God brings to every believer.

3John 4 I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.

Joy is found in other believers being obedient to God and walking in His truth.  It’s joyous when we do it and also when we see others do that as well!

Every other notion or definition of joy falls horribly short of the one we get from God and His Word!  Imagine experiencing the kind of joy God is talking about on a daily basis, year after year after year…and then not having it and trying to find a substitute for it in the evil, selfish world system.  YECHHHH again!

WHAT DOES JOY HAVE TO DO WITH MOURNING OR COMFORT?

Quite simply joy is comfort.  Without the poor in Spirit there is no mourning.  Without mourning there is no repentance.  Without repentance there is no salvation.  Without salvation there is no spiritual birth, no new heart, no freedom from sin, no absolute truth, no real love, no peace, no hope, no eternal life, no knowing and serving and loving God…in short, no comfort and NO JOY!!

For the small price of mourning over your sin God will comfort you with so much joy that you will feel as if you cannot contain it all!  When you are in prison you will sing songs of praise and tell of God’s goodness to others:

Acts 16:19b … they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the rulers.

Acts 16:20 And when they had brought them to the magistrates, they said, “These men are Jews, and they are disturbing our city.

Acts 16:21 They advocate customs that are not lawful for us as Romans to accept or practice.”

Acts 16:22 The crowd joined in attacking them, and the magistrates tore the garments off them and gave orders to beat them with rods.

Acts 16:23 And when they had inflicted many blows upon them, they threw them into prison, ordering the jailer to keep them safely.

Acts 16:24 Having received this order, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks.

Acts 16:25 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them…

Now, I can imagine sitting there, having been beaten and tortured, chained to shackles in the inner prison (the most secure part, what we might call a dungeon) which was not a 5-star hotel – damp, filthy, cold, horrible smelling, rats, disease, and the shackles were designed to keep the legs spread far apart so as to be uncomfortable and even painful or torturous over long periods of time!  I think I might be calling a lawyer or complaining to others about how I was innocent or unfairly treated.  I mean after all, all I did was help to rid a poor girl of her demon possession and that’s a good thing, right?  Just think of how much I helped her, and I deserved to be beaten and thrown in prison?  I didn’t commit any crimes against anyone!  I helped someone and this is the thanks I get for going out of my way and being loving and compassionate!!??!!   I should be getting a medal or a Nobel peace prize or something!!  This isn’t fair!!

Or maybe I would be so full of God’s joy, that I would be sitting in the corner, having been beaten and wrongfully imprisoned in a foul, detestable place, singing songs of joy and praises to God so loud that all the other prisoners could hear me.  Meanwhile the other prisoners are asking the guards to get the shrink to have my head examined or to get some duct tape to shut me up (don’t be getting any ideas about the duct tape out there)!

Comfort and joy fill my cup until it runneth over!!

Psalms 23:1 The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. (He is my comfort)

Psalms 23:2 He makes me lie down in green pastures. (He comforts me)

                    He leads me beside still waters. (He gives me peace and joy)

Psalms 23:3 He restores my soul. (He gives joy to my soul)

                    He leads me in paths of righteousness (The right path = joy)

                    for his name’s sake. (He gets all the glory yet gives joy/comfort)

Psalms 23:4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

                    I will fear no evil, (He comforts me in trials, inner joy)

                    for you are with me; (He won’t ever leave me – comforting)

                    your rod and your staff,

                    they comfort me.

Psalms 23:5 You prepare a table before me (what joy to be a child of God)

                    in the presence of my enemies; (not ashamed of me - comforting)

                    you anoint my head with oil; (Chosen, comforted and joyful)

                    my cup overflows. (My comfort and joy cannot be contained)

Psalms 23:6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me

                    all the days of my life, (Overjoyed and comforted)

                    and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD

                    forever. (Eternal joy and comfort!)

You can look at comfort and joy as two sides of the same coin.  God’s comfort will bring us joy and if we have no joy then we have no comfort.   Both of these need to be looked at from a God-centered point of view.  Worldly comfort and joy are 2 very different things than Godly comfort and joy.  Worldly comfort or joy is often found in destructive or selfish things that don’t ever last or provide what we actually need.  Godly comfort is knowing that God will never leave you or forsake you or give you more than you can handle – He will always be there for you no matter how much you mess up!  Godly joy transcends all your circumstances, your past history, your shortcomings, or any other situations you can throw at it!

HOW DO WE APPLY THESE THINGS?

Mourning, comfort, and joy – quite the merry-go-round of emotions!  When we are truly in mourning, we are looking for comfort wherever we can find it and longing for the days when we had some joy in our lives, hoping that joy will find us again!

Mourning, however, is a daily occurrence in the life of a believer!  Not weekly, monthly, or yearly, but daily!  As long as you sin you should mourn…if you think you no longer sin then you need a new standard of what sin actually is!

Sin is not thinking what God would think, saying what God would say, or doing what God would do in any situation or relationship all day long every day for as long as you live…WWJT, WWJS, & WWJD.

The idea of mourning is not that you go around weeping all the time so that no one can stand to be within 100 feet of you – those kinds of people are generally not humble, but usually looking for sympathy and attention from other people.

The kind of mourning that God approves of is based on numerous things:

1. The mourning is from a believer, a.k.a. a child of God.
2. It is over sin that the believer recognizes is offensive to God.
3. It will then lead to repentance.
4. Repentance leads to more God-honoring thoughts, words, and actions.
5. True repentance and the fruit of that will lead to a quicker and more sensitive response to the convictions of the Holy Spirit.
6. It will turn you toward who God is and what He wants from you, not just make you feel horrible.
7. Mourning is actually a good thing!  It makes us reevaluate our lives, motives, goals, thoughts, words, actions – and there should then be a reorientation in a Godly positive direction!

So, what kind of mourning do you and I do?  Do we mourn over our sins, any of them?  Do we repent or acknowledge the destructiveness of going or own way and ignoring God’s plan for our lives?  Are we too busy to mourn?  Are we too wealthy to mourn?  Are we too self-centered to even think we should mourn?

2Corinthians 10:5 We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ,

2Corinthians 10:6 being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete.

Every thought captive…punish every disobedience…OUCH!!

Make a list of every way you fall short of God’s glory.  Every thought, word, or action.  Then mourn over that list.  But that’s not where the story ends…

God did not give us His Word, His Son, and His Spirit so we could run around boo-hooing and feeling sorry for ourselves!  The idea of mourning is to recognize where we aren’t and then looking to what God has given us to see where He wants us to be.  Being transformed into the image of Christ will take a whole lot of chiseling and shaping, and mourning is a vital step in that process.

Imagine you are a lump of clay.  God the Holy Spirit is what gives that lump of clay life.  God’s Word gives that lump of clay understanding, guidance and direction.  God the Son gives that lump of clay meaning, purpose, and goals.  God the Father draws that lump of clay in and has beautiful plans for now and all eternity.

If you are willing to mourn in a godly fashion and bear the fruit that follows from that, then you are a lump of clay in the Master’s hands who will craft you into what you were created to be (a unique child of God with spiritual gifts being transformed into the image of His Son).

Or you can see what you and the devil can make from that lump of clay…

Rest assured that the lump of clay that you and the devil try to shape will be in the end lifeless, hopeless, meaningless, pointless, and shapeless!

It’s your choice…

As far as comfort goes you will never find anything like what you can get from being a child of God:

1. Comfort in peace that is beyond all understanding.
2. Comfort in love that is undeserved, unquestionable, and unchanging.
3. Comfort in mercy that is ever present in this life.
4. Comfort in grace that is never earned yet keeps coming.
5. Comfort in God’s patience as we stumble along in this sinful body.
6. Comfort in God’s kindness and gentleness in our lives.
7. Comfort that God is good and the standard of goodness.
8. Comfort that God does not lie or change His mind.
9. Comfort that we are totally forgiven and covered by Christ.
10. Comfort that we are chosen and His children.

Notice that all of our comfort is rooted in a person, the perfect, holy trinity that is God.  God does not give us a new car and say “there is your comfort! Enjoy that new BMW!”  While he certainly does provide for us, the comfort is not in the provisions but in the PROVIDER!  That’s why we can learn to be content with whatever we have and not lose our comfort because our comfort is not rooted in stuff.  Paul learned to be content with a lot or a little, being beaten or making disciples, making enemies or friends, and on and on and on!

Your comfort is not your financial status. It’s not your spouse or the size of your house, it’s not your car or found at the bar, it’s not your child or found in the wild, it’s not your job or the result of a good sob, it’s not your family or lost in a calamity…IT IS GOD!!!!!!!!

If you are always anxious and looking for comfort as a Christian then that is a sad way to live because we already possess all the blessings from God in Christ, and one of them is comfort.  Stop looking or trying to earn something you already have!!

Imagine a friend you have bought you a new car… (I know, we need more friends like that right!) Instead of enjoying it you just park it in the garage, cover it with a blanket, and forget that it’s there.  You then proceed to try and save money so you can buy a car, you ask your friends for rides, you borrow a loved one’s car for emergencies, you take public transportation, you complain to others that you’ll never be able to afford a nice new car, you even pray for a new car. 

You say, “that’s silly!  Of course, I would be using the new car my friend gave me!  I would never ignore it or not use it!”  “What a silly story!”

Well, I would say back, “God has given you all the comfort you will ever need and even more, so why do you ignore it, pretend you don’t have it thereby covering it up and forgetting about it?  Why do you proceed to look for comfort everywhere except the one place you are assured it will satisfy you?  Why do you feel like you have to earn it to get it from God?  Why do you pray for something you already possess?

Just like we possess the new car from our friend, we already possess all the comfort we will ever need.  We just need to understand what it is and learn how to access it.  Unless you uncover the car, open the garage, put gas in it, have a driver’s license, know how to drive, and turn the key, you will never appreciate that new car. 

Comfort is found in who God is, what He has done, what He is doing, and what He will do.  The more you know all of those things the more comfort you will have.  The less you know, you guessed it, the less comfort you will have.  IT IS EXACTLY THE SAME CONCEPT FOR JOY AS IT IS FOR COMFORT!

All the joy is found in God.  In His Word, plans, promises and predictions.  You have everything in Him you need for complete joy no matter what the circumstances are around you.  You can’t earn it and you can’t lose it, but you can refuse to acknowledge or access it and be miserable because of that!  God’s already done everything on His part…the ball is in our corner!  Are we going to keep the new car hidden or take it out and enjoy it?

Mourn so you can recognize all the comfort and joy you have in the Lord!

Let’s pray…