The Joy of Mourning

That title sounds like a contradiction to me. Joy and grief are total opposites. I do not know about you, but every time I have been sad, I have not been happy. That would be my first reaction to the words:

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

Matthew 5:4

            Perhaps then, it is only a contradiction because we are thinking about the nature of grief wrong. Everything within us despises sorrow, but here it seems that Christ is welcoming it as a subject would herald the arrival of a king. Except that is exactly what happened. It was welcomed as a King. He was welcomed as the King of Sorrow, the Man of Sorrow. We often picture Christ as the Majesty of the celestial mountaintops, but do not forget that He is also Lord of the dark valleys as well, for there is no foreign country His foot has not tread upon, even those depths of the Valley of the Shadow of Death where all sorrow dwells.

            Come, let us reverently consider our Savior’s Passion by His grace. I would recommend you stop reading and ask the Lord for grace to accompany Him to this valley that we know as Calvary. Like really…stop reading for a moment and pray for the Lord to encounter you, for we are about to tread on Holy Ground that needs not be overlooked swiftly and lightly. Do not ignore this, He is much greater than my words will ever be.

            Do you ever remember a moment where your heart felt heavy? Like it was one hundred pounds too heavy for your chest to uphold? Like it was filled to the brim with tumult and grief, sinking quickly in a sea of sorrow? The sorrow of loneliness. The sorrow of failure. The sorrow of hopelessness. The sorrow of a crumbling world bearing down on you. Oh, that is but the sorrow of just one person. Who could bear the sorrow of ten souls? How heavy a heart would that be? What of a thousand? What of all mankind? Unbearable.

            That was the burden of the Heart of Jesus, that Man of Sorrow identified with the insurmountable chains of grief that He submitted Himself to because it was His joy to do it. So, step by step Christ carried that burden with joy. The immense weight of the summation of every human sorrow He bore with trembling knees, a marred and beaten body, and eyes that looked on you from eternity past with love and saw everything you have ever done and said “You are worth all of human suffering if it meant I was to have a Heaven with you!”

            This is called the Great Exchange. The great exchange of our own sorrow and grief for His joy through the power of the Holy Spirit won by the Victory at Christ’s Cross. Therefore, the Holy Spirit through Christ was sent to dwell in our hearts for this purpose.

“The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me…to comfort all who mourn, to console those who mourn in Zion. To give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness.”

 Isaiah 61:1a-3b

            That is why every moment of human mourning is now an opportunity for Christ the Conqueror to display the joy of His presence in our lives through His Holy Spirit. Indeed, we are blessed when we are faced with just an infinitely minute fraction of what Christ suffered because He is our Comforter that will never leave or forsake us. He shall use every moment of grief to apply Himself as the Joy. I would indeed call that Good News, happy news that should refresh our souls with that oil of joy given in exchange for our mourning at the Cross. He intends this for all His people to live in this reality, constantly connected to the reality of His Joy.

The Holy Spirit as our Comforter

How many of us have been in a place in our life where we feel alone, with no one to listen to us? In need of a hug, a hand to hold, or a shoulder to lean on? We sometimes get caught up in wanting that worldly relationship or comfort, when we are constantly surrounded by our Almighty Comforter, the Holy spirit.

In John 14:26, it states “ But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.” If we look at the surface of this verse, we see that God is sending us help so we will not feel lonesome. He states that the spirit will always be with us and not leave us helpless.

If we look deeper, we can see some key words, like ADVOCATE. An advocate is there for us, even in our hardest times… also known as a comforter! The Holy Spirit is acts as our reminder of God’s promises so we can find comfort. We also see the words “in my name”. The Lord promised us a comforter that will always be with us. That alone gives me a peace like no other.

Now, that we know what the Holy Spirit is, how exactly do we connect with the Holy Spirit? Is there a direct line that no one will share? NO! The Holy Spirit is everywhere. The prayers you say every night are an example of our connection with the Spirit. Yes, we are taught to pray to God or Jesus, but if we remember the trinity, we are praying to a triune God, this is including the Holy Spirit. If you ever need a direct line to God, you have it in your prayers.

We can find comfort knowing that The Holy Spirit is always surrounding us, and in our hearts as believers. God promised us that we would always have this and to use it as a comforter, which is so amazing. We are wrapped with the love and peace of God through the Holy Spirit. The next time you are in need of comfort, try to walk away from the worldly things you have, and try to be still in the presence of the Holy Spirit, and find your comfort in him.

*This blog post was written by Sara Baldwin, who is currently the Communications Assistant at South Wesley.