Jesus begins the Sermon on the Mount with the declaration: the poor in spirit and those who mourn are blessed.
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted” (Matthew 5.3-4).
Jesus never engaged in mere happy talk. The poor in spirit are those brought to a point where they realize they must depend on God. Those who mourn grieve over the circumstances of their lives, but know their comfort is in God.
Arrogance leads us to believe that we can live independently from God, relying solely on our self-sufficiency. It also enables us to oppress the less fortunate.
Arrogance and dishonesty are the two major character traits of the evil one. God cannot permit His people to embody such traits.
Therefore, He leads us to a state of spiritual poverty and sorrow over our circumstances. This guidance aims to cultivate humility and a contrite heart within us.
Isaiah 66 shows us why it is a blessing to be poor in spirit and to mourn.
Thus says the Lord:
Heaven is my throne,
and the earth is my footstool;
so what kind of house could you build for me,
what sort of place for me to rest?
All these things my hand has made,
so all these things are mine,
says the Lord.
But this is the one to whom I will look,
to the humble and contrite in spirit
who trembles at my word. (Isaiah 66.1-2)
To be contrite in spirit is to be crushed. Consider the challenge of shaping a rock into a glass vase—it’s nearly impossible. However, if you pulverize the rock into sand, it can readily assume the shape of a vase.
Pride and self-will harden us, making it difficult to shape our character to God’s likeness. On the other hand, when God or life’s circumstances crush us, we are more easily shaped into His image.
If you stop people on the street and ask, “What is the best thing in life?” most will likely say “Happiness.” However, if you ask God, He would tell you that the best thing is a relationship with Him, where he can mold you in His image.
How God Shapes Us Into His Image
God uses three main tools to shape us in His image. The first tool is an active devotional life, engaging with Him through prayer, reading the Bible, worship, and serving others.
The second tool is our responsiveness to His words—when we hear His commands and quickly act on them.
The third tool involves life’s hardships. He turns to this method only when the first two tools cannot mold us effectively.
By the eighth century, Israel had reached a point where God needed to humble them by allowing enemy forces to defeat them. His goal was not to destroy them but to bring them to a place of repentance and return to Him.
Hosea told the nation that they were about to experience poverty of spirit, mourning, and crushing due to impending events.
Therefore I will hedge up her way with thorns,
and I will build a wall against her
so that she cannot find her paths.
She shall pursue her lovers
but not overtake them,
and she shall seek them
but shall not find them.
Then she shall say, “I will go
and return to my first husband,
for it was better with me then than now.” (Hosea 2.6-7)
There is an important point to be made when we recognize that God orchestrates the world events that lead to our being crushed.
If a powerful nation alone overpowers us, we are left without hope. But if God directs these events, He also has the power to heal us.
Verse 7 uses the language of repentance, speaking of a return. God employs difficult times to guide us toward repentance, at which point we return to Him.
Consent and Obey
God shapes us into His character by positioning us to hear His word and helping us to align our lives with His will for our lives. Not always, but often this comes before we are tested by difficult circumstances.
If you are willing and obedient,
you shall eat the good of the land,
But if you refuse and rebel,
you shall be devoured by the sword,
for the mouth of the Lord has spoken. (Isaiah 1.19-20)
God provided the Israelites with the Ten Commandments as a measure to assess their alignment with His Word. Similarly, we have the Ten Commandments and the Sermon on the Mount as our guides.
While the Ten Commandments instruct us not to commit adultery, Jesus delved deeper, addressing the root of adultery in our thoughts and desires. Rudy Ross often refers to this deeper issue as iniquity.
“But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Matthew 5.28).
Let’s ask ourselves a question for self-examination: Am I willing and obedient to follow Jesus’s teachings about lust in the Sermon on the Mount, as well as His guidance on other issues that may arise later?
YouTube Video
Rudy Ross and I discuss the Hosea passage on YouTube today. It is on the Bob Spradling channel.
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