We know that for those who love God

all things work together for good.

Romans 8:28

God is actively redeeming your life and weaving all things into good. I have heard many people warp this into a strange theology where you cannot question God and must rejoice in all things (rejoice in the Lord, always. I will say it again Rejoice…). This feels wrong to me on many levels.

Sometimes, life is hard and horrible things happen. The death of a spouse, or even worse, the death of a child, would not cause me to readily run to church to rejoice. Yet some would make us feel guilty if we did not rejoice in our misfortunes.

For I desire mercy and not sacrifice, the Knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings- Hosea 6v6.

He wants us to know him personally because he already knows us personally. He doesn’t want us to pretend we are okay with the brokenness of the world crashing into us. He is big enough to take our anger. It is okay to cry bitter tears and mourn the tragedies of life. It is okay to feel sad and angry; even hopeless as times. The flesh-and-blood Jesus has dealt with these emotions himself.

So take your fury and bitterness to him – isn’t that better than taking our emotions to the idols we all love so dearly (whichever one is your idol of choice)?

Follow Jesus example in Gethsemane. First, He brought His emotions to God (my soul is sorrowful), next He brought His desires to the Father (let this cup pass), and finally He brought His trust to God (not my will but yours). That is the grieving process.

When we deny our feelings, we prolong them. By acknowledging and being honest with our pain and emotions, we bring them into the light.

Weeping may tarry in the night, but joy comes with the morning. Psalm 30:5

And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. Revelations 21:4

People love to remind us of things like that, but it is not always helpful when you are stuck in the pain of this world. In fact, this can often make us feel worse – like if our faith were stronger, these things wouldn’t bother us.

 For me, words do not always bring comfort in the moment, but it is nice to know that there is more than just this one moment. God’s promise is that it will not always be like this. He will one day reconcile all things. He will wipe our tears away. I don’t have to understand how this works, I just know that is will work.

I can be angry at the brokenness of the world, I can mourn and feel the deep pain of the world AND I can be assured that it will one day be fixed.