What’s wrong with looking for sympathy?
There is much sadness in our lives: disease and decay in our bodies; deaths of dear ones; divorce and distress in marriages, international war and interpersonal conflict; rebellion against God that brings disaster, both personal and global. It is no wonder that the most abundant type of Psalm is a psalm of lament.
It is okay to lament, to mourn, grieve and wail over the sorrows of this life.
God grieves.
Why does that surprise us? Why are we shocked at expressions of His deep grief and anger?
Because we have been told, trained – even – to believe that maturity, mental health and wellness means to be impervious to pain, or at least to not give in to it, to ignore it. We can read scripture passages where God has been rejected by the people He dearly loves and has cared for without our hearts being affected, as if He somehow is “above” having feelings.
Does He ever violate His own nature in His expression of or response to them? No.
Does He ever feel anything whose roots are not truth? Absolutely not!
But does He feel things that are uncomfortable, even devastating? Absolutely!
He is no stranger to emotions. The reason we have them is because we are created in His likeness!
He wants to transform us to be like Him…including our feelings.
He has compassion, sympathy, joy, anger, peace, jealousy, sadness, anguish…He has them all! And His are all true indicators of reality.
He is not some cardboard cutout; He is real and alive!
So when I am sad, lonely, feeling abandoned or frustrated, I can go to Him with those feelings…to help me sort them out, to show me His heart about them, to help me carry them when they are too heavy.
And when I am happy, peaceful, delighted or full of hope, I can share those with Him, too, and give thanks to Him for His companionship.
One more reason to be…
Following Jesus every day in the everyday,
Christi
P.S. One feeling He doesn’t have: no guilt or shame of His own. Jesus took ours at the cross.
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