SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/6/2020
11:10 AM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-1 “Godly
Mourning”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matthew 5:4
Message of the
verses: “4
“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.”
We have been looking at two types of
mourning in the past few SD’s, however this has nothing to do with the type of
mourning that Jesus is talking about here in Matthew 5:4. Jesus does desire to give His children
consoling, comfort, and also to strengthen us when we turn to Him for help, but
those are not the kind of sorrow at issue here.
What Jesus is speaking of here is godly sorrow, godly mourning, mourning
that only those who sincerely desire to belong to Him or who already belong to
Him can experience.
Let
us look at an example that Paul speaks of in 2 Corinthians 7:10-11a “10 For the sorrow that is according to the
will of God produces a
repentance without regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces
death. 11 For behold what earnestness this very thing, this godly
sorrow, has produced in you.” We can see
here that the only sorrow that brings spiritual life and growth is godly
sorrow, sorrow over sin that leads to repentance as godly sorrow is linked to
repentance, and repentance is linked to sin. I believe that we can link 1 John
1:9 her “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our
sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
John
MacArthur writes “As the first beatitude makes clear, entrance into the kingdom
of heaven begins with being ‘poor in spirit,’ with recognition of total
spiritual bankruptcy. The only way any
person can come to Jesus Christ is empty-handed, totally destitute and pleading
for God’s mercy and grace. Without a
sense of spiritual poverty no one can enter the kingdom. And when we enter the kingdom we should never
lose that sense, knowing ‘that nothing good dwells in [us], that is, in [our]
flesh’ (Rom. 7:18).” As one reads over
the 7th chapter of Romans we can be assured that what Paul wrote
there was something that he totally got over, but struggled with it for the
rest of his life as Paul wrote that chapter speaking of the issues that he was
going through, issues that we all go through from one degree to another. The verb tense found in that section indicates
this to be true.
It
is the poor in spirit who become those who mourn. Psalm 51 was written by David about his
sinfulness of adultery with Bathsheba along with the killing of her husband,
and in this Psalm David repented and expressed his godly sorrow as seen in
verses 3-4 “3 For I know
my transgressions, And my sin is ever before me. 4 Against You, You only, I have
sinned And done what is evil in Your sight, So that You are justified when You
speak And blameless when You judge.”
Now we want to talk about Job who according to verse one we read “1 There
was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job; and that man was blameless,
upright, fearing God and turning away from evil.” God still had things to teach Job about His
greatness and Job’s own unworthiness along with some things about God’s
infinite wisdom and Job’s own very imperfect understanding. Most of know what happened to Job, how he
lost his children, and all of his wealth, not realizing that this was God’s
plan for him. After God allowed
everything that was dear to Job to be taken away and then He lectured His
servant on His sovereignty and His majesty, did Job finally come to the place
of godly sorrow, of repenting of and mourning over sin as Job would confess “I
have heard of Thee by the hearing of the ear; but no my eye sees Thee;
therefore I retract, and I repent in dust and ashes” (Job 42:5-6). MacArthur adds “God loves and honors a
morally righteous life, but it is no substitute for a humble and contrite
heart, which God loves and honors every more (Isa. 66:2).” “"For My hand made all these things, Thus
all these things came into being," declares the LORD.”But to this one I
will look, To him who is
humble and contrite of spirit, and who trembles at My word.”
“As
seen in the discussion of the first beatitude, makarios (‘blessed’) means to be happy, blissful. That happiness is a divine pronouncement, the assured benefit of those who
meet the conditions God requires.”
Spiritual meaning for my life today: If I follow the highlighted portion of Isaiah
66:2, then I will be able to follow the highlighted of this last paragraph from
John MacArthur, to meet the conditions God requires.
My Steps of Faith for Today: To trust that the Lord continue to teach me
things that I desire to learn, that of contentment, humility and to have joy as
I study His Word.
4/6/2020 11:51 AM
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