Whitewashed planks

I had been watching a sermon series online about the Psalms of Lament. Or sorrow and mourning, to use more common speech. One-third of the Psalms fit into this category. The seldom quoted and rarely preached upon third. Only to follow up with something far more straightforward, in the words of the minister. Which makes me wonder if his church didn’t respond very well to it. As unsurprising as this is, we still need to ask ourselves why.

Scripture says it so many times, and in so many ways, that righteousness and wholeness are internal. (Matt 12:33-37, 23:25-26 & 15:19-20) Yet we seem so reluctant to go there and face ourselves. Many even seem to act as if it is wrong. All because that is where the root of our sorrow lives, and we assume it’s for the best to just leave it alone. Granted, some seem to be addicted to their misery and are only looking for excuses, not solutions. Yet, the very fact that the Psalms of Lament exist indicates that you really do have to face it to heal it, instead of shunning your sadness altogether.

“Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death. See what this godly sorrow has produced in you: what earnestness, what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what alarm, what longing, what concern, what readiness to see justice done. At every point you have proved yourselves to be innocent in this matter.” -2nd Corinthians 7:10-11

Sorrow, like so many other things, has two sides to it. Yet if we make no distinction and shun all of it for fear of the bad side. We also lose its benefits. So, have we inadvertently turned Jesus into a whitewash for the planks we don’t want to deal with? (Matt 7:3-5 & 23:27-28) Meaning we just use him as a broad blanket answer for everything. Without any applicable advice on how to put the transformed born-again life into actual practice. Especially if it means facing the brokenness within. Leaving so many unchanged and nothing to offer the lost but more whitewash. We can’t give what we never had after all.

“. . . first take the plank out of your own eye, and THEN you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.” -Matthew 7:5

If a repairman told you that your foundation is collapsing, would you just repaint the house and call it good enough? Of course not, that would be ridiculous. So why are we effectively doing the same with our spirits? True wholeness, for which your holiness is dependent, requires overcoming the brokenness in our hearts. Until we do that, our faith is mostly just a facade.

“Discipline without healing doesn’t work real well over time, and it can do great damage to our hearts. . . ” -John Eldredge

Here is the good news. God wants to be part of a real solution. This isn’t a clean yourself up so you can become worthy of approaching him, as in the Old Testament. It’s about seeking him through study and honest prayer so he can cast a light on those dark places you’ve been avoiding. Then he will show you what to do about it beyond mere camouflage. 

So let me remind you of something I always teach about prayer. Expect anything. People can have tunnel vision with prayers when we assume they have to be answered in a particular way. Especially when praying about the rotten fruit of our sin, because God will likely redirect you to the wounds that they take root in. So if you find your mind wandering during prayer, you don’t necessarily need to abruptly stop and get back on track. Consider what it has wandered to, and how it may relate to your issues. It may just be God nudging you towards real answers.

The Visual PARABLEist

A few Psalms of Lament 6, 13:2-3, 25:16-18, 27:9-10, 31:9-12