Sackcloth: made of goat hair; typically black; worn in times of mourning in Bible times; UNCOMFORTABLE.

The discomfort of the sackcloth represented your mourning and was a constant reminder of why you were wearing it in the first place. Your sorrow was physical. (Which is a whole other blog in itself!) Outwardly and inwardly. Nowadays, no one wears sackcloth in this country on a regular basis. We do wear black to symbolize our mourning. But what if we never take it off? What if our hearts or minds are clothed in dark sackcloth? I think of a widow alone in her house adorned in black. Her heart is so heavy with sorry she can’t even move. The neighborhood, not understanding, thinks of her as the old crazy lady. If only someone who was full of love and compassion would go to her door and tell her, “Rise up. There is no need to mourn. Delight in the Lord for He is good! He is faithful unto you and will deliver you from your sorrows. The time of mourning is over!” (Ecclesiastes 3:4).

I think of myself. How I just can’t take of my sackcloth. I mourn over everything. Have I forgotten what true joy feels like? I know the mourning is over. So why can’t I move on?

Maybe some of us are covered in mental sackcloth. We are so accustomed to the discomfort we don’t remember what joy feels like. True joy. Maybe someone should say to us, “Rise up. There is no need to mourn. Delight in the Lord for He is good! He is faithful unto you and will deliver you from sorrows. The time of mourning is over!”