“The Suffering Servant invites us, in our pain, to wipe disingenuous smiles off our faces and start living honestly concerning how damaged and hurt we feel. He commands that we be righteously angry and that we hate what is evil, even as we cling to what is good.”- Scott Sauls
“Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fact to what is good.”- Romans 12:9 (ESV)
In Prologue 12 (“Honest Songs”) of Beautiful People Don’t Just Happen, Scott Sauls argues that we underrate distressed feelings. Instead, the author suggests, we need to express our distressed feelings more freely. That it’s a good thing to give our stress the space and validity we offer our more joyful expressions.
And since God loves and cares for us, He’s given us songs with which to express our sorrow together. That starts with the Psalms, God’s original hymnbook for His people. Because in the psalms God gives voice and platform to the entire range of human emotion.
Therefore, Pastor Sauls invites, take the risk and lean into lament. The author explains:
“Leaning into lament is a necessary skill in the art of rejoicing. The psalmists affirm this to be true by their own Holy-Spirit inspired examples. It is not despite their faith but because of their faith that they pray with such honest, gutsy, raw, distressed emotion. And with their prayers, they are inviting us — God is inviting us — to join them in their songs of joy and their songs of lament. . . to express our happiness and to express our hurt.”
In conclusion, Pastor Sauls observes, almost every person feels insecure and underencouraged. However, almost no one wants to admit it. So, we need to somehow figure out a way to disentangle our legitimate hurt from the hiding impulse brought on by toxic shame. We must value honest expressions of pain, sorrow, and distress.
Today’s question: Do you agree that we need to wipe disingenuous smiles off our faces? Please share.
Tomorrow’s blog: “Our expressions of distress”
