From Mourning to Praise

WHAT TO EXPECT FROM THIS BOOK

Go into any typical church on any typical Sunday morning and you likely will find two occurrences. In public, people will tell you, “Fine. Doing well. Couldn’t be better.” Greetings flip over the tongue like the file cards on a Rolodex. The singing time is filled with choruses expressing gratitude, adoration, and praise for God. God is good. On the surface, joy is the order of the day. Everyone is glad to be in the Lord’s house.
If we could see beneath the surface, however, a different story would begin to emerge among the individuals. Diana, who sits in the fifth row back on the left, lost her son twenty-three years ago in a Sunday morning auto accident. Her God is a distant and unapproachable tyrant. She has been unable to approach God in a meaningful way since.
Matthew, one of the deacons, has moved to the back corner in order to leave the service early. Two weeks ago his new warehouse manager, a kid half his age who touted a business degree and an attitude, hauled the entire work crew to the warehouse so he could announce the names of the people who would lose their jobs to restructuring. Matthew was fifth on the list. He and his wife have never been rich, but he has been faithful as a breadwinner. Now, he wonders how he can find another job at his age in this economy.
Jennifer, a vibrant presence among the teens, receives almost weekly compliments on how “sold out” she is for Christ. Several young men in the youth group have asked her out, but her response is always the same. She needs to maintain focus. The truth is darker. She was molested by an uncle when she was ten, and now finds it impossible to trust men. She hides her shame behind her smile.
These three suffer in silence because they have no other options. For them, God is not a God to be approached. He is only a God to be praised. They learned from the Bible that he dwells on the praises of his saints (Psalm 22:3). Therefore, they need to praise. He is a God who forgives, so they should forgive. He refuses to hold grudges, so they should drop theirs.
Week after week, while the church lifts up praise, Diana, Matthew, and Jennifer do their best to stifle their grief and pretend that their worship has more substance than unflavored rice cakes. They are not bad people. They love the Lord. They just do not realize their grief is allowed to have a voice.

What to Expect from This Book
If you are like Diana, Matthew, or Jennifer, and wonder how—or whether—you can take your pain to God, I have good news. You can. God has walked your path, and he cares. He is also is eager to hear your complaint. If you suffer, or have questions about the reasons why we suffer, or both, this book is for you. Having said that, however, I need to clarify what the book does and does not do.

• From Mourning to Praise will not argue that God uses suffering to balance the moral books in your life. It will not tell you that if you suffer, God must be punishing you for something you did in the past. That philosophy is only a form of Christian karma. Instead, the book will show you how to plead your case before God. It will teach you how to seek God’s face in your dark hours. It will encourage you to cry out loud. God’s deepest work grows out of sorrow.
• This book will not promise miracle cures. It will not guarantee to make your pain go away, and it will not try to manipulate your expectations with success stories about those who have achieved success-filled lives after their losses. It will guide you to a place where you can discern God’s deeper work in your life. Once you get there, it will teach you how to offer meaningful praise for what he teaches you.
• Finally, this book will not call you to equate spirituality with happy feelings. It will not force you to pretend you are happy when you are not. It will encourage you to take your difficulties in all their rawness to God, when all you have at your disposal is grief.

Briefly, From Mourning to Praise approaches the subject of suffering and loss the way the Bible approaches it, under the assurance that God still loves us and continues to care for us. Here are three things that the book will affirm:

• God cares when you suffer.
• God suffers with you.
• Worship from a position of suffering can be far more meaningful than worship that is always happy.

God uses suffering to produce growth and character depth. Therefore, you have a right to let God know about injustice, and to plead with him for justice. You have a right to be angry with God—out loud