“God blesses those who mourn, for they will be comforted.”
–Matthew 5:2 NLT
My dog never looked so pitiful. He had been painfully chewing on his tail, so we had a cone put around his head. Drenched in sweat and humidity after a long walk on a late summer afternoon, our double-coated malamute found himself outside quickly, cooling down from his workout. My husband had moved the barbecue the night before, loosening the ashes from the container. My dog never realized the significance of the image, as he sat in the dry ashes on our back porch. This was truly a picture of what it looks like to mourn. Yet there he was, with that natural dog “smile,” ever-present, with no hint of sadness in sight.
As I sat down to read Matthew 5, I recalled in Scripture that ashes show up when God is subjecting someone to humbling circumstances, and that sitting in them implied a need to mourn these circumstances. When Job sat in ashes (Job 2:8, also 42:6), he had been afflicted with much physical and emotional pain; he had to take time to mourn his situation and tend to his wounds, and later in the story, repent. When Jonah preached in the streets of Nineveh regarding their need to repent of their ways, sitting in ashes was the king’s response: “When…(he) …heard what Jonah was saying, he stepped down from his throne, and took off his royal robes. He dressed himself in burlap and sat on a heap of ashes.” (Jonah 3:6)
Yet for these men, mourning was not their final destination. Just as the Lord brought Job and the Ninevites out of their mourning (Job 42:10a, 11b, 12a; Jonah 3:10), He longs to comfort us, and bring us to a more comfortable place as well. While there is a “time to mourn,” there is also “a time to dance” (Ecclesiastes 3:4b NIV). May we never linger longer than we should in our sadness, but during these times, continue to cling all the while to Jesus, who was sent to comfort His people. (Isaiah 40:1)
Prayer: Lord, there are so many times I have mourned with no reprieve in sight. Father, comfort me in these moments – remind me of Your love for me. Send others into my life, to come alongside me, to show compassion on and share Your wisdom with me. God, as your Shepherd’s rod and staff comfort me when I mourn (Psalm 23:4b), guide me into that place where all I can sense is Your presence, where I can be filled with Your love, the knowledge of You, and a desire to repent from all the ways that pull me away from You. May Your will be done in my life – always. Amen.
