When we are not travelling, Cheryl and I like to attend the Wednesday night Bible Study at our congregation. We showed up for one a few weeks ago, not knowing what the topic would be. The group had started a study on the Beatitudes, and we showed up for this one:

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

This was God’s doing. In the previous nine weeks we had attended six funerals and would be attending another that coming weekend. Some were lifelong friends. Two were for nieces in their early thirties. One was for a thirteen-month-old precious little girl, our oldest daughter’s niece on her husband’s side. And this was on top of Cheryl’s father going to be with Jesus at the beginning of last November. We were grieving and mourning.

The lesson was focused on mourning over sin, but it gave us a chance to share with the participants the mourning that we were experiencing in our lives. We were comforted by our brothers and sisters in Christ, some of who also shared what they were dealing with in their lives. We were able to experience what Paul wrote about in his second letter to the believers in Corinth.

2 Corinthians 1:3–4 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.

We have indeed be comforted by God. We have the certainty of sins forgiven for Jesus’ sake. We have the sure hope of heaven in our future. This gives us strength and confidence to face each day.

You will encounter people every day who are grieving and mourning. May those of us who have been comforted in our lives by God’s love in Christ make every effort to share that comfort with the people God places in our lives!