MOURNING AS A VALUE OF THE KINGDOM
Matthew 5:4 "Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted."
Within the values of the kingdom, given in the Sermon on the Mount, we find mourning as the second of the eight. These are not simply good ideas, or something to try for a season. These values describe the lifestyles of those who are subjects of the Kingdom of God. "Blessed are those who mourn," describes the lifestyle of those who embrace the values of the Kingdom of God. To mourn literally means to tear the heart. It is to groan without consolation. There is a sure blessedness to the life lived longing and aching for God and in weeping and sorrowing over sin. There is real comfort for the one who will live this lifestyle without allowing their soul to be comforted by anything but God. Living the values of the kingdom is where satisfaction of the soul is found. Satisfaction for the soul is not found apart from the values of the Kingdom of God; therefore, mourning is a part of the pathway to satisfaction and rest for the soul.
MOURNING FOR THE BRIDEGROOM
We must give ourselves to mourning as an expression of our deep desire for the Bridegroom. It is living with an ache deep within our hearts, desiring Jesus to come near us and ultimately return to the earth.
Matthew 9:15 "And Jesus said to them, "Can the friends of the Bridegroom mourn as long as the Bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the Bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast.""
Jesus explained that those who are His friends would mourn prior to His return. We are living in the days when the Bridegroom has been taken away and mourning is the only fitting, the only proper response of our lovesick, longing hearts. This is our portion in this life. We mourn until we see Him, until we are with Him forever.
To mourn is to live in the lamenting of Jesus' absence. It is to live with a continual groan because things are not as they should be. Things are only as they should be in Jesus' presence. Our mourning testifies that we are not of this world. And we who have the Spirit groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the King to come once again and make the wrong things right.
MOURNING OVER SIN AND COMING JUDGMENT
As we enter into an intimate relationship with Jesus we begin to move with the things that move His heart. When we are moved with what moves Him, we are moved by the reality of wickedness and sin in the land. We must call upon the Lord while He is near, while He may be found. We, as a people, must weep and sigh and cry over the sin and the abominations in our land. We must lament and mourn. We must weep between the porch and the altar crying, "Spare your people, O God" (Joel 2:17).
Zephaniah 2:1-3 "Gather yourselves together, yes, gather together, O undesirable nation, before the decree is issued, or the day passes like chaff, before the Lord's fierce anger comes upon you. Before the day of the Lord's anger comes upon you! Seek the Lord, all you meek of the earth, who have upheld His justice. Seek righteousness, seek humility. It may be that you will be hidden in the day of the Lord's anger."
There is a warning to us, an appeal to us to seek the Lord before that great and terrible Day. If we try to get a prayer life in that Day of trouble, it will be too late. Jesus, the One who has judgment and sorrow in His heart, wants friends who will weep with Him in the place of judgment. If we don't weep today, there is coming a day when we will weep, because we are unprepared.
Luke 6:25 "Woe to you who are full, For you shall hunger. Woe to you who laugh now, For you shall mourn and weep."
Mourning is our safeguard for the days that lie ahead. A heart that does not mourn is a heart that accepts the current state of affairs as tolerable and satisfactory, having lost sight of the age to come.
The reality of the end of the age and the judgment events to come are meant to provoke our hearts to mourning before it is too late. As a people we must live in a state of perpetual solemn assembly. We are called to be a Joel 2 people who give ourselves to fasting, weeping and mourning, turning to the Lord with all of our hearts.
4 ENEMIES TO LIVING A LIFE OF MOURNING
There are multiple obstacles that will try to keep us from embracing a lifestyle of mourning. Each must be overcome to enter into this most gracious gift.
1) The Cry for Normalcy It will keep us from living a life of mourning. We can't live knowing what we know and yet looking back at the world, longing for a "normal life." In Psalm 69, David described what it was like to live in fasting and prayer because of mourning. There is a cry that is coming against us to live balanced and not be so fanatical. If we heed this cry, we will make ourselves enemies of the cross of Christ. We need a redefinition of what is normal. What is normal for my children must be far different than what I grew up conceiving normalcy to be. Oh that a young generation would be raised up who would live authentic Christian lives believing it to be absolutely normal to pray and fast, weep and mourn, and live radically abandoned to God!
Luke 17:28-32 "Likewise as it was also in the days of Lot: They ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built; 29 "but on the day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. 30 "Even so will it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed. 31 "In that day, he who is on the housetop, and his goods are in the house, let him not come down to take them away. And likewise the one who is in the field, let him not turn back. 32 "Remember Lot's wife.
We must remember Lot's wife. She longed for what was normal to her. We must not long for what is considered normal and acceptable to the world's system. As forerunners, when we begin to look back to life as we knew it before, when we begin to long for what this world system considers "normal and acceptable," we will forfeit our destiny in this life. Lot's wife is to be a reminder to cause our hearts to tremble before God. Oh that we wouldn't be those, who having put our hand to the plow, look back, making ourselves unfit for the Kingdom of God!
2) Self- Pity Right along with intense seasons of mourning, there is intense self-pity that must be ruthlessly dealt with. When you are mourning you tend to say to yourself, that you aren't doing well, and that you should have a better life, being happy and having fun. Self-pity is not a characteristic of godly mourning. In fact, it will keep you from mourning. Self-pity is the deadly enemy to this generation.
Forerunners have a narrow calling; their mandate is different, even from others within the body of Christ. There are things they must say "no"to, things that are perhaps even acceptable for others within in the body of Christ. If we begin to embrace self-pity and wish for a "normal" life, we will not fulfill our destiny in God. No matter how great the pain of today, it will never be greater or exceed in any way the promises of tomorrow.
We have a cry to be comforted. When we are detoxing from the spirit of this age, when we turn our backs to every other lover, our hearts ache with longing. We desire to be satisfied and to experience bliss. There is often a waiting period during this time when we are no longer being comforted by the pleasures of this world, but we haven't yet entered into the superior pleasures of loving God. Many times in this detoxification process, we will not sense the presence of God in the way that we want to. Our souls writhe in pain and the barrenness of our hearts becomes acute. Many will turn back because the pain seems too much to bear. Many will desert the Lord for harlotry, turning to other lovers as a means to satiate their desire for temporal comforts and quiet the cry of their mournful hearts. However, if we will purpose in our hearts to wait upon the Lord, refusing to be comforted by anyone or anything but Him, I believe we will not be disappointed. His comforts will delight our soul (Ps 94:19).
3) Dullness Dullness can set in so easily while we attempt to sustain urgency in a time of relative peace. There seems to be peace everywhere, yet we must stay awake knowing that judgment is coming. It's hard to live with urgency in our hearts, because we are constantly living in tension. The only thing that can bring comfort to us is the eternal comfort that we receive from the Holy Spirit.
We are living in between two ages. We are in the world, yet we are not of the world; and therein lies the painful tension. It is this tension that creates mourning within our souls. Our souls long because we are citizens of another place. We must live soberly with our eyes fixed on the age to come so dullness does not settle in over our hearts.
Psalm 119:19-20 "I am a stranger in the earth¦My soul breaks with longing for your judgments."
We can stop our ears to the alarm that is being sounded (Joel 2:1) and close our eyes ever so subtly to each call of the Lord to "watch"(Mk 13:33); and in so doing we allow dullness to settle in over our hearts. We come under the delusion of the scoffing spirit in this way (2 Pet 3:3-4). The scoffing spirit deceives us into believing that urgency is not necessary and His coming is a distant reality. This will keep us from mourning.
4) Drunkenness -- Drunkenness weighs down the heart with deception. Deception is being out of touch with reality, believing something that is false. Drunkenness is an enemy of the truth. The byline of the drunkard is "everything is beautiful; everything is fine; no worries, man." Many will fall away at the end of the age because they will refuse to love the truth (2 Thes 2:3, 10). A heart weighed down and drunk off the spirit of this age will open wide the door to deception unto apostasy.
How can we mourn for God when we have so stuffed our souls with activity and so many "legitimate,"yet not God-enhancing, pursuits?
MIRTH VERSUS MYRRH
The world again and again is calling us into mirth, entertainment and amusement. Mirth is characterized by frivolity, giddiness, amusement, recreation, entertainment, drunkenness, carousing, and partying. Mirth attracts friends--a large crowd to eat, drink and make merry with. Mirth inebriates and intoxicates the senses until it renders you dull, sluggish, and asleep.
As strongly as the world is calling us to embrace mirth, the Lord is calling us to embrace myrrh. Myrrh is a burial spice, a bitter herb. It points to suffering and death. Myrrh repels the masses. The way of myrrh is the road less traveled. Myrrh causes men to turn away; and yet, it is what the Lord is calling us to.
While we will faint if we don't believe we'll see the goodness of Lord in land of living, we'll also faint if we don't set our minds on the age to come. We will experience momentary joy in this life, but our greatest joys won't come until the age to come. On the day that we stand before Him and receive our reward, we will surely enter into the joy of the Lord.
You don't graduate from mourning. We mustn't refuse the gift of mourning saying "It's not my season;" when in actuality, we are using it as an excuse to hurl ourselves into frivolity, drunkenness, and carnal pleasures. We are called to be in pain until we die, until we see Him. It is on that Day, the day of our wedding, that our hearts will finally be made glad (Song of Sol 3:11).
AS IT WAS IN DAYS OF NOAH
One of the greatest temptations at the end of the age, prior to the return of Jesus, will be the same as it was in "Noah's day"pursuing mirth rather than embracing mourning, in light of what is coming (Luke 17:26-27). Noah was gripped by the Word of Lord, crying out that a flood was coming in a time when it had never rained on the earth before. He began to prophesy with his words, and yea more than his words, but his life as well building an ark in the desert, day in and day out. Noah warned and pleaded, undoubtedly imploring the people with tears, all the while hammering nails into wood. He invested his life into the foolishness of building a boat on sand in the middle of the desert. His message was not palatable. It was too extreme: judgment is at hand; a flood is coming. Noah did not give himself to merriment. The people of the day gave themselves to eating, drinking, carousing, and being preoccupied with the cares of this life. They continued to go on with business as usual, refusing to embrace the mourning and sobriety necessary to save themselves in the day of trouble. The message of mourning is not popular, and yet Solomon instructs the wise man to find himself in the house of mourning for only fools live in the house of mirth (Eccl 7:4).
Who would dare to live this life soberly? In sobriety, our hearts come face to face with pain. Man would rather live drunk and in fantasy than have to look down the barrel at reality. So we give ourselves to anything and everything that would drown out the sirens, the message that causes our hearts to tremble, and mourn, and turn to the Lord. We must cry for mercy in this hour in light of our own impotence to save ourselves.
At the end of the age, we must be those who give ourselves to embracing myrrh. What was acceptable in years gone by is not acceptable in this late hour. It is time to weep, to mourn, to seek the Lord while He may be found.
MANDATE TO MOURN
Joel 2:12 "Now, therefore, says the Lord, Turn to Me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning."
We as a people must give ourselves to mourning for the Bridegroom and mourning over sin and impending judgment. This is our safeguard. This is our mandate. We need the gift of mourning.
Joel 1:8 "Lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth for the husband of her youth."
Over and over again, we are called by the Lord to grieve and mourn without consolation. Joel the Prophet instructs us, in light of the coming Day of the Lord, to lament like a young woman who tragically loses the husband of her youth. Anna, a hero of the prayer movement, experienced Joel 1:8 in the natural as she found herself widowed at a young age. She knew what it was like to mourn and grieve without consolation. I believe in a like manner God is going to release a grace, upon all those called to a life of prayer like Anna, to live a life of mourning and lamentation. We must be those who say "yes" to this mandate that we have as friends of the Bridegroom to mourn until Jesus returns to the earth.
Jamie Burns is a full time Intercessory Missionary serving at the Atlanta International House of Prayer.
