Thursday, October 18
Humm....
I think one of the worst lies the Devil can tell to those who are suffering, is that they are not really suffering at all. He gives them comparisons, reasons to make them feel like they're insignifcant, compared to other's trials.
It makes them suppress their needs. It enstills guilt and shame.
They isolate themselves, adhering to the bizarre reasoning of a solitary, confined mind.
They deteriorate and decay.
Or is this the gift of Heaven? Perhaps.
When it directs our minds outward and upward. When it causes us to rejoice, because our Heavenly Father suffered more than we will ever have to for our sakes. When it allows us to love others with a deeper sympathy for their hurt.
But this is no lie. In this form, our suffering is not denied, but rather consoled and resolved. I think, this is a truth.
Maybe there are situations in life that just are dramatic, and hail a proper dramatic response in feeling and action. I sometimes think 'drama' is useless, only existent for the entertainment of teenage girls' frivolous minds.
But when you're in the midst of real misery, is it wrong or immature to be a poet? To express this inside you to the extent of its true capacity for pain?
Is it so?
Can it be so?
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In answer to your final questions, I would say that no, it is not always wrong or immature.
ReplyDeleteBacking up, I think you were absolutely right to divide the issue into a truth vs. lies dichotomy. There is one mindset, it is true, that seeks out ways to be depressed, or afraid, or angry. That person's motives can vary extremely, but in practice one ends up distorting the reality into a lie, into something that is not God-honoring.
That's not to say, though, that the normal, healthy, Christian spirit is not sometimes deeply downcast. Take Psalm 88, for example. Here the author recognizes that at times there really is no peace at all left in our hearts. Sometimes we are simply unable to pull ourselves out of despair. The difference between this psalm and the attitude above is that the author is just being honest. He's not stirring up these feeling in himself. They are just over-flowing. In the midst of this, the place to which the psalmist naturally turns is the throne of God, but here, too, the author remains truthful. In every other Psalm, just bringing one's troubles to God gives at least some small measure of relief. But here, the writer admits that at times (though rarely) we are so despondent that even taking our grief to God -- which is, regardless, always the very best course of action -- does not help. At least not at the moment.
It was my natural tendency to surmise (and it may be yours, as well), then, that it is okay to express turmoil, but only to God in private. Here again, though, the very fact that we have Psalm 88 available to read shows that, with discretion, it is fine and even right to express these things publicly.
Anyway... Tricky subject, but I think that what you have posted is very insightful. Thank you for posting this very wise and thought-provoking post!