Unwinding the Soul

Have you ever had the experience of feeling like everywhere you go you are hearing the same message? Like God has let everyone else in on exactly what you need to hear? Like every message has been crafted just for you? That is exactly what has been happening for me over the last few months.

Maybe it’s like when you get a new car, and suddenly you notice just how many people are driving that particular make, model, and color car. Maybe the lesson has been there all along and I have been missing it. Whatever the case, God has been getting my attention. I described it to a friend this way, it is like God is “unwinding my soul and slowly bringing refreshing.”

In last week’s blog, we started looking at the prophet Joel’s response when the people of Israel were facing a national crisis. Everything was destroyed, dried up, or ruined – literally. Locust had invaded and stripped away everything, including the people’s joy.

Joel gives the people these instructions, “Gird yourselves with sackcloth and lament, O priest; wail, O ministers of the altar! Come, spend the night in sackcloth O ministers of my God, for the grain offering and the drink offering are withheld from the house of your God.” (Joel 1:13 NASB)

Notice, when Joel and his people are suffering, he does not offer them platitudes, he does not ignore the hurt, but instead, he instructs them to enter God’s presence in with a spirit of mourning. It is this instruction to cry out in lament that has been surfacing over and over for me.

Just like the earth rotates through seasons, our lives go through seasons too. We have times of great joy and fruitfulness, and we also have times of darkness and cutting back. When we are facing hard seasons, it is appropriate to wrestle through them. The wise King Solomon said it this way, there is “a time to weep and time to laugh; a time to mourn and a time to dance.” (Ecclesiastes 3:4)

I have to tell you, while I was aware the Bible include songs of lament, before the last few months, I had given little thought to how they applied to my life. But as I am seeking God, looking to Him to unwind and restore my soul, I have found that learning to lament is a major piece of my healing.

Since I am still walking through applying this truth, let me share with you some of the lessons and resources God has placed in front of me.

Not long ago, I attended a conference led by Beth Moore where she pointed us to Psalm 73, a song of lament. In this Psalm, the psalmist honestly addressed God with his questions. He expressed how it seemed God was not coming through, how He was not fair, and how the psalmist had almost turned away from God. In his honesty, the psalmist then came directly into God’s presence and his perspective was changed.

Beth referred us to a book called Sacred Sorrow by Michael Card. This thought-provoking book explores how lament is not only one of the deepest and most authentic forms of worship, it is also an essential part of establishing a true witness to the world. Card says it this way, “Until we learn to honestly embrace our hopelessness and theirs, there will be no true gospel to be heard. Until we learn to lament, we have nothing to say to the world.” When things are not as they should be, it is appropriate for us to be disturbed, hurt, and broken. Our mourning allows us to both connect to God and to relate a world full of people who are suffering.

The Bible teaches us that Jesus Himself openly wept on several occasions during His earthly ministry. Recently, my pastor shared a message on the crushing that Jesus experienced leading up to the cross. Right before He was betrayed, Jesus knelt down to pray in a garden where olives were not only grown, but where they were crushed to produce oil. Here Jesus cried out to God to withhold the painful death and separation that was coming. His turmoil was so great that Jesus sweat drops of blood. As we know, God did not remove the cross, but instead, Jesus faced a brutal death. But this death led to His resurrection and the gift of eternal life for God’s children.

Just like Jesus’ crushing, often we face situations that are extremely painful. Situations we would like to give up on, run away from, or be delivered from. But just like you will never get olive oil without crushing and just like Jesus could not offer life without facing death, often our pain is right where God wants us. And just like Jesus, in our time of pain, we can cry out to and petition God.

At the conclusion of that service, we sang the song New Wine. Even though I had heard the words before, they had a deeper meaning. That song along with Praise Before My Breakthrough and Raise a Hallelujah have ministered to my soul as I have listened to them over and over.

After that powerful church service, a friend shared with me an interview with TD Jakes where he was talking about his new book Crushing: God Turns Pressure into Power. In the interview, he normalizes crushing as a part of our walk with God. These pressure-filled times are the very seasons that prepare us for living out God’s call more fully. And Jakes reminds us that crushing is a season and not a destination.

If you are currently in a crushing season full of hurt and pain, I want to encourage you to practice the Biblical example of lament. Bring your confusion, anger, and bitterness to God. Allow your questions to push you deeper into God’s presence.

I pray that just like for myself, entering into worship through lament will help you to unwind your soul and find your way to healing.