updated June 23, 2026
The Beatitudes make up several verses of the Biblical book of Matthew .
Matthew recorded these lessons that Jesus taught in his “Sermon on the Mount”, some of the most well-known and often quoted verses of the Bible.
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Finding “Our Utmost” -Oswald Chambers
Also well known and often quoted is a daily devotional book, “My Utmost for His Highest”, by Oswald Chambers. Some consider it the most beloved devotional book of all time.
Chambers was a Scottish Bible teacher in the early 1900s who was popular due to his penetrating examination of the Bible. After his death, his wife Biddy chose many of his talks and published them as a book of daily devotions.
Over 100 years later, Christians still find comfort and challenge from his pointed observations and interpretation of scripture.
In this excerpt from the devotional for July 25 Chambers reflects on “astonishing discomfort” described in Matthew 5:3-10.
“The Beatitudes seem merely mild and beautiful precepts for all unworldly and useless people but of little practical use in the stern world in which we live.
…we have to decide whether we will accept the tremendous spiritual upheaval that will be produced in our circumstances if we obey His words.
The teaching of Jesus is out of proportion to our natural way of looking at things and it comes with astonishing discomfort to begin with. “
“Hunger and Thirst”-Kim Phuc Phan Thi
Author Kim Phuc Phan Thi also referenced a Beatitude in her memoir Fire Road
“Blessed are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled.” (Matthew 5:6)
“I would run my finger along those phases, wondering if those words could really be true. If I pursue your ways, God, will you really satisfy that which is hungry in me?”
excerpt from FIRE ROAD
Love Conquers Fear-a memoir by the Napalm Girl, Kim Phuc Phan Thi
updated May 23, 2026 Even if you are not old enough to remember the war the United States fought in Vietnam in the 1960s and 1970s, you likely have seen the Pulitzer Prize-winning photo of the “Napalm girl” running down a dirt road, fleeing an attack that burned most of her body. Taken to a…
Keep readingYour personal reflection
Matthew 5:3-10
Using this link, read through the Beatitudes. (Change to a different version if you prefer.) Here is a definition of blessed from Strong’s Concordance
blessed, happy.
A prolonged form of the poetical makar (meaning the same); supremely blest; by extension, fortunate, well off — blessed, happy(X -ier).
Which one do you find most appealing?
Which one would you prefer not be included?
What else would you say is true of those who are blessed?
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4 thoughts on “The Surprising Blessing of Discomfort”