Wednesday Word: Honest

"Can I be honest?
I just wanna know that You still got this
When all I'm holding onto is a promise
God, You promised that You'll never leave me
When I'm scared of the dark, You're right there with me
Your kindness never fails, it's always reaching after me
But right now, God, all I need
Is to be honest."
~Leanna Crawford, "Honest"

This song by Leanna Crawford has been the cry of my heart for the last few weeks. One night when I was driving home and it came on the radio, I cried all the way through it because y’all, I’M SO THERE RIGHT NOW. 

One amazing thing about our God is that He actually encourages our honesty. Have you ever read some of the Psalms that David and others penned? Here are a few examples: 

• Psalm 5:1-2 NIV:  “Listen to my words, LORD, consider my lament. Hear my cry for help, my King and my God, for to you I pray.”
• Psalm 13:1 NIV:  “How long, LORD? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?”
• Psalm 31:9 NIV:  “Be merciful to me, LORD, for I am in distress; my eyes grow weak with sorrow, my soul and body with grief.”
• Psalm 42:3 NIV:  “My tears have been my food day and night, while people say to me all day long, “Where is your God?””

Does this language make you squirm at first? Yet as you lean in, is there something more that resonates in you? 

“How long, LORD?” 

Have you ever prayed that? I know I have! 

“How long until this fatigue passes?”

“How long until this gets easier?”

“How long until…?” You fill in that space. Because it’s likely there on your heart, buried just beneath the surface. 

We need to stop burying the lament. 

That’s probably not the most comfortable of thoughts, but the truth is that God can handle our big feelings. He created us to have feelings, the cozy ones and the messy ones, the small ones and the big ones, the happy ones and the ugly ones. All our feelings are from God, and the most honoring thing we can do when we feel them is to bring them to Him. 

Let’s lean into being honest today. Let’s raise a lament and cry out to Him when we can’t take it anymore. God can handle this, even when we think we can’t.

Blessings,

~Lynne