October 3, 2012
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Making Space
What do you do when you hear bad news? News from friends of death, illness, and loss seem to come at regular intervals throughout my week. In those moments, I feel the sadness and the anger, and I pray for my friends — but then in the next moment, I have to move on to a task or responsibility that is calling my name. It’s like I bookmark it to come back to it later, and later, it’ll pop back into my mind again but still I don’t know what to do with it. And what I’ve done with it is not what I should’ve done with it. It’s not that I’ve cursed the air or God, for that matter, when I’ve “bookmarked” the heartbreaking event, but in leaving the anguish truly untouched, I have left a wound inside and not given it the exposure it needs to heal.
The Bible teaches us how to process difficult events. It’s those psalms of lament and the imprecatory psalms which cause a little embarrassment and confusion on a regular day but give us guidance for moments such as these. The psalmists knew how to express their honest feelings of sorrow, doubt, confusion and anger towards God and towards the injustices of this world. They didn’t hold back even their most appalling sentiments of anger (Psalm 137 has a prime example of sentiments against an enemy, “Happy are those who seize your infants and dash them against the rocks.”). They knew that God could handle their anger and their pain. More than that, I learn from them one other very important lesson: They took the time to reflect on their sorrow, and so should I. No, not just reflect but to feel the sorrow and loss. In facing it, I make space for God to speak. I invite him to show up in that moment.
