Sunday, May 19, 2013

Comfort For Those That Mourn

When Jesus spoke in Matthew He said those that mourned were blessed because they would be comforted. In Isaiah 61 when he spoke of the Messiah, Isaiah said that the Messiah would comfort those that mourn. This would be done by consoling them with beauty, oil of joy, and the garment of praise. The end result of this was that the comforted person would be called the planting of the Lord to His glory. When in the temple, Jesus read from this passage the first few verses, and then declared what Isaiah had written fulfilled. How do these fit together?

Jesus told his followers that He must go so that the Comforter would come, which is the Holy Spirit. This happened at Pentecost (Shavuot). The Holy Spirit can help us past the struggles in life, especially not seeing Jesus in person. We and the whole world travail for the return of the Messiah. When we are down we can feel and look saddened and downtrodden. The Spirit can lift us up. The one thing we need to do is to cooperate by clothing ourselves in praise. The Spirit will give us what to sing and say, but we must open our own mouths. From our own mouths will come the comfort, and from God the wisdom to make it through day to day.

Prayer
Father, thank You for sending the Comforter, Your Holy Spirit, to be with us and in us while we sojourn in a world, fallen. Help us to remember to open our mouth in praise to You, and to never forget that You are the One that rules the heavens and earth, our King. In Jesus name. Amen.