The House of Mourning

[votivesoul]

Ecclesiastes 7:2-4,

2. It is better to go to the house of mourning, than to go to the house of feasting: for that is the end of all men; and the living will lay it to his heart.
3. Sorrow is better than laughter: for by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better.
4. The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning; but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth.

About a week ago, as my wife and I often do (she more than me), we were singing our children to sleep with worship songs, a capella style.

My wife began a song that went something like this:

"Hear my prayer, O Lord, when I cry..."

I honestly don't remember the words all that well.

As she began to sing, the Holy Spirit descended upon me. I lifted my hands in prayer and praise.

As it continued, I experienced the "still, small voice" of the Lord say "the house of mourning" to me.

With the words came the download, if you will.

It seems to me the Lord wants me to begin a prayer meeting in my home. Not for revival, not for fellowship, not for any of the usual reasons why, but rather, to get true God-fearing people together to repent, lament, and mourn unto Him for:

- Personal sins/unfaithfulness to the Lord
- Corporate sins of the Body of Christ (i.e. moral failures)
- The sins of our ungodly nation
- The rebellious lost (i.e. God-haters)

The guiding principle behind it all will be Joel 1:

1. The word of the Lord that came to Joel the son of Pethuel.
2. Hear this, ye old men, and give ear, all ye inhabitants of the land. Hath this been in your days, or even in the days of your fathers?
3. Tell ye your children of it, and let your children tell their children, and their children another generation.
4. That which the palmerworm hath left hath the locust eaten; and that which the locust hath left hath the cankerworm eaten; and that which the cankerworm hath left hath the caterpiller eaten.
5. Awake, ye drunkards, and weep; and howl, all ye drinkers of wine, because of the new wine; for it is cut off from your mouth.
6. For a nation is come up upon my land, strong, and without number, whose teeth are the teeth of a lion, and he hath the cheek teeth of a great lion.
7. He hath laid my vine waste, and barked my fig tree: he hath made it clean bare, and cast it away; the branches thereof are made white.
8. Lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth for the husband of her youth.
9. The meat offering and the drink offering is cut off from the house of the Lord; the priests, the Lord's ministers, mourn.
10. The field is wasted, the land mourneth; for the corn is wasted: the new wine is dried up, the oil languisheth.
11. Be ye ashamed, O ye husbandmen; howl, O ye vinedressers, for the wheat and for the barley; because the harvest of the field is perished.
12. The vine is dried up, and the fig tree languisheth; the pomegranate tree, the palm tree also, and the apple tree, even all the trees of the field, are withered: because joy is withered away from the sons of men.
13. Gird yourselves, and lament, ye priests: howl, ye ministers of the altar: come, lie all night in sackcloth, ye ministers of my God: for the meat offering and the drink offering is withholden from the house of your God.
14. Sanctify ye a fast, call a solemn assembly, gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land into the house of the Lord your God, and cry unto the Lord,
15. Alas for the day! for the day of the Lord is at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come.
16. Is not the meat cut off before our eyes, yea, joy and gladness from the house of our God?
17. The seed is rotten under their clods, the garners are laid desolate, the barns are broken down; for the corn is withered.
18. How do the beasts groan! the herds of cattle are perplexed, because they have no pasture; yea, the flocks of sheep are made desolate.
19. O Lord, to thee will I cry: for the fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness, and the flame hath burned all the trees of the field.
20. The beasts of the field cry also unto thee: for the rivers of waters are dried up, and the fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness.

While Joel 1 had an immediate context to the people of 800 B.C. Israel, I feel that there are modern day applications to be found, especially the call to the priesthood and servants of the House of God.

Is there anyone here who will join me?

I feel such shame and sorrow for the reproach brought upon the Lord by many of those who ought to know better. Spiritual abuse runs rampant. Lords over God's heritage go unchecked. Widows and orphans are neglected. Families in the church find themselves caught in the crossfire of someone else's bigoted ego. The walls have fallen. The glory of the Lord has departed from the temple, and no one even notices their candlestick has been removed.

I am not denouncing the true church. Please don't misunderstand me. But judgment begins at the house of God, and it seems to me that when the Lord comes calling, there are going to be many, and I mean MANY, who are going to be found wanting.

So, will you join with me and go down to the house of mourning?

Somebody needs to do it. I am willing. Are you?