Ecclesiastes 3:3 …a time to mourn…
Definition: Mourn: To feel or express sorrow or grief. To grieve or lament for the dead. To show the conventional or usual signs of sorrow over a person's death.
As we keep going along here in Ecclesiastes 3, things start to add up on why certain things happen in life, not just for us but worldwide. Life I not just us but it is happening to everyone. And at any given time, someone somewhere is living their life according to Ecclesiastes 3. This week I had a few posts show up on my social media that I was drawn too. Especially with the topic we have this week, "a time to mourn”. I was seeing images and videos of the death and destruction of the conflict going on between Israel and Hamas led Palestine. My heart breaks for both sides as innocent lives and families are being destroyed. The Bible is very clear that we are to take time to mourn for the loss of lives.
You read throughout the Old Testament how God’s people mourned, even the Egyptians. In the New Testament we see also when the people mourned of Jesus’s death.
Genesis 50:2-3 (2) And Joseph commanded his servants the physicians to embalm his father: and the physicians embalmed Israel. (3) And forty days were fulfilled for him; for so are fulfilled the days of those which are embalmed: and the Egyptians mourned for him threescore and ten days.
Mark 16:9-10 (9) Now when Jesus was risen early the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven devils. (10) And she went and told them that had been with him, as they mourned and wept.
There are so many instances in the Bible dealing with mourning the death of someone. I did a word search of the word mourn or mourning in the King James version of the Bible and over 120 instances showed up from Genesis to Revelations. It must be important if it is mentioned that many times.
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Exodus 33:1-4 (1) And the Lord said unto Moses, Depart, and go up hence, thou and the people which thou hast brought up out of the land of Egypt, unto the land which I sware unto Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, Unto thy seed will I give it: (2) And I will send an angel before thee; and I will drive out the Canaanite, the Amorite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite: (3) Unto a land flowing with milk and honey: for I will not go up in the midst of thee; for thou art a stiffnecked people: lest I consume thee in the way. (4) And when the people heard these evil tidings, they mourned: and no man did put on him his ornaments.
Esther 4:3 And in every province, whithersoever the king's commandment and his decree came, there was great mourning among the Jews, and fasting, and weeping, and wailing; and many lay in sackcloth and ashes.
Psalm 38:6 I am troubled; I am bowed down greatly; I go mourning all the day long.
In those verses we see a different type of mourning. Very situational. No one has died but sometimes receiving news not in your favor can send you into mourning. I do believe we can all relate to this as well as the death of someone. I have experienced that myself as a business owner. Sometimes you get the news you are not looking for and it really puts you in a slump.
Proverbs 29:2 When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice: but when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn.
Talking about a verse that is tested true today. Proverbs 29:2 sums up our nation’s political and social inefficiencies. We should mourn the way our nation is headed. Un-Godly people are in very high positions making laws that counter God’s law. We should all be experiencing mourning for our nation and other nations dealing with the same situations.
When we truly mourn, it shows we have compassion, not for ourselves but also for others. No one likes to be in the state of mourning. It is sad, overwhelming. But God does command us to do so. There are other types of mourning in the Bible especially when we get to Revelations, but I want to focus on our compassion for others and our nations. I am going to make a very bold statement and say, you cannot mourn for anything you do not care about. Think about that for a moment. How many times have we seen or heard a terrible scenario and never even shrugged our shoulders. Now I am even going to say this. We will not pray for things we do not care about. If you are not praying for it then you do not have compassion to even mourn for it.
1st Timothy 2:1-4 (1) I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; (2) for kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. (3) For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; (4) who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.
Here Timothy says something Bold about praying for those in authority. Pray for them that they may come to know Jesus. Back to the very beginning of this study when I was talking about the conflict between Israel and Hamas led Palestine, the first thing I did was said a prayer for the leaders. Those leaders have the authority to stop the conflict. I was moved and had a deep feeling of mourning for the 2 nations as I was looking at video and reading about the conflict. Though I do not have a personal experience, I can still mourn for those and lift my prayers up. We should also be doing the same for our nation. We do complain a lot about what is going on, but do we care enough to go into mourning and lifting our prayers up. There is such a spirituality of everything going on in our world. I do believe many are experience their time to mourn.
COMMENTS
[ posted by Cindy, 06/03/2024 02:34 PM ]
"Blessed are those that mourn, for they shall be comforted."Matt 5:4 Jesus spoke those words from the Mount of Olives sermon. I think Jesus wants us to know that no matter what causes our mourning, he has relief for us in His comfort and trust in Him. Mourning is for many reasons like Mike has said. And yes, in the world today we should be mourning for all the different things happening. They all have an affect on us and our lives and family. Matt 11:28-30 tells us that Jesus wants us to put our burdens on Him amd to lean on Him, and when we are at our lowest that He will give us rest (from them). Pretty sure that includes our sorrows and mourning, too. We have never been promised that our lives would be problem free. We will all suffer loss of loved ones, mourning, adversities, tragedies...but also have love, happiness, prosperity, etc. And the study we are on is showing us that there is a bad and a good to change into in our lives. In a world full of tragedies, I believe there are far more blessings that outnumber the bad stuff. The Bible uses the word lament also to describe a type of mourning. It is defined as a passionate expression of grief or sorrow. The book of Psalms is full of sorrow, lament and mourning. Mourning results from grief of losing loved ones, brokenness, (loss of something important or desperately wanted or needed) and from committing sin. The Bible is full of compassionate behavior of those who sinned and prayed fervently and passionately to God about it. They would fall to their knees, cry out to God, etc. Do we? How do we feel when we sin? Shouldn't we also mourn about it? They knew what they did wrong. Mourning for themselves and letting God know they know what they did and how sorry they were. We have all sinned, but we are supposed to try not to sin. Let me be honest, I look back on some of my sins, and cry to God about them. I know He has forgiven me, but I still hurt thinking of some of them. It may be the past, but sometimes don't you think " why did I do this, or why the heck did I do that?" Sinning should make us feel guilty. We should mourn for ourselves when we commit sin. Mourning for our sins brings our repentance. We need to be mourning for our country and world events. Right now the world seems like they are on a time to hate, a time to cancel others, a time to keep dividing the people, a time to take God out of everything.... Who's mourning over a world that is deeply broken and becoming more ungodly by the day? I found this quote but forgot to write down who said it. "When we mourn over evil and brokeness in our world, we're sharing God's heart. When we mourn over the evil and brokenness in our world we are driven to pray. When we linger with God in this kind of prayerful sorrow, our Father in Heaven convicts us, comforts us, and sends us back out to do His work, but now with grace, humility and a resilience that anger never provides."