Go ahead. Wail away! God can take it, and it’s okay to cry on His shoulder. These are hard times. Losses and set-backs are the rule and not the exception; every family is touched by shortages, job losses or reductions, and illnesses with no certain diagnosis. Family relationships are amplified in times like these, both strong ones and the dysfunctional. Income and food insecurity, payments due, and uncertainty about the future are the topics of social media, newscasts, and conversations.
Somehow we have come to think there is something wrong with our faith if we find ourselves screaming at God or silenced by doubt—or both by turns. But there is as long a history of tears as triumphs in our spiritual archives. And in spite of our present emphasis on “praise” in our worship, a third of the Psalms are cries of distress. We just tend to leave those verses out and skip right to the victory phrases.
I still strongly believe that the marks of the true believer are joy and rest. But I am learning, too, that there is a big difference between happiness and joy, and that rest is what we settle into when, as Annie Johnson Flynt wrote, “we reach the end of our hoarded resources,” and find strong arms holding us still.
And joy is not at the mercy of circumstances, but comes as a result of a security bought and tested in the crucible of pain and suffering. The things we pray for God to remove from our lives are often the very shovels He uses to enlarge our capacity for joy and for holding what is eternal. It is almost always the things we go through that write our greatest songs of praise.
Maybe Annie Lamott is right. Maybe there are only three essential prayers: Help! Thanks! Wow! One thing for sure, tears really are a language God understands, and His ear is as tuned to our “groanings that cannot be uttered” as it is to our loudest Hosannas! And just maybe the groanings are the valuable currency with which we purchase any hallelujahs that ring true. One thing you can take to the bank is that the operative word in any crisis is “through.” Our God will take us through.
There was a time, Lord, When I was happy,
but pain had not plumbed my happiness deep enough
to be truthfully be called joy.
There was a time when I knew and celebrated
true things,
but experience had not yet sent me
over perilous pilgrimages
in pursuit of a Holy Grail.
There was a time when I made eager plans
for a future,
but had not yet learned
to embrace eternity in the moments I had.
Thank you, Lord, for the road I’ve traveled.
Only now I am discovering
that it is beautiful to praise God in all things.
Today, at least, I do.
Praise You.
Amen.
Prayer 40 from A Book of Simple Prayers by Gloria Gaither, © Gloria Gaither. 2008 Gaither Music Group, Alexandria, Indiana
