It's OK to NOT Be OK

As born-again believers in Jesus Christ, the goodness and glory of God has been revealed to us personally through Him.  We learn to look at life through the lens of God's greatness and power, and we can attest to wonderful things He has done in our lives.  When troubles and difficulties arise, our response can be to gloss over our struggles in conversations with others--as if experiencing a painful trial is an indictment of our lack of faith.  Should someone ask us how we are doing, we might be tempted to ignore the question and respond with a cliche like "God is good."  Or we might take a Pollyanna approach to paint everything in the best light because we do not want to burden anyone else with the burdens we carry.  Friends, it's OK to NOT be OK.

This is a common way, without even thinking about it, Christians can be prone to lying.  We know our good, awesome God loves us, and it is good to keep Him in the forefront of our minds.  But this does not mean we are always doing well, nor does it follow we are carefree without struggles and burdens because we are not God.  We can put on a smile and pretend we aren't grieving, we aren't offended, that everything is on the up when we are cast down and grieving.  It is true people can be uncomfortable in a social setting when we are honest with them and admit we are struggling, a medical prognosis is bad, or we don't have good news to report.  Sharing we are in the midst of an overwhelming trial is not an indication of our lack of faith, for it is by faith in God we are honest and transparent with people who might judge us negatively.

In a chat this morning with my mum, she told me the story behind her wearing glasses.  It was not until she went to school it was discovered by her teacher she needed glasses to see anything clearly.  At the time if you asked her, she would have claimed to be able to see--but the words all the other students could read to her looked like a blank sheet of paper.  After being fitted with glasses, she was gobsmacked at the new world that opened up before her gaze:  she saw clouds for the first time, trees actually had individual leaves, and roses were not a blob of colour but had lovely petals.  The glasses helped her to see clearly what had been a blur or completely unseen before.  The LORD does this for us spiritually and much more, enabling us to know God by faith in Christ.  It is after knowing Him we begin to see more clearly just how immense our need for Him was and continues to be.

Jesus promises to fill the thirsty who come to Him, and it is the hungry He satisfies by His grace.  It is the lost whom He finds, He opens the eyes of the blind and lifts up the depressed soul.  If we carefully put a positive spin to conceal our struggles before others and act like all is well, should we be surprised when our turmoil continues?  Should God cater to our hypocrisy, deceit and pride when we pretend to be OK, when we pretend to be sufficient in ourselves when the LORD alone is our strength?  Australia has a "R U OK?" day, and the catchphrase is "A conversation can change a life."  If we are unwilling to be honest in conversation with people who love the LORD and care about us, it is unlikely we will receive the full benefits God has for us who works in and through His people.  When we are not OK, we are blessed to know God remains good.  Humility before God and others is a path God uses to let our needs be made known, to pray with one another, to seek the LORD, and to bring us to a place of rest even in ongoing struggles.  If we imagine we are OK ourselves, when will we ever seek God out of need?