{"id":95962,"date":"2026-06-05T16:40:43","date_gmt":"2026-06-05T21:40:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/?p=95962"},"modified":"2026-06-05T16:42:33","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T21:42:33","slug":"god-never-asked-you-to-hide-your-pain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/god-never-asked-you-to-hide-your-pain\/","title":{"rendered":"God Never Asked You to Hide Your Pain"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\tby Nathan Ward<br \/>\nvia\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@watchinlight\"><em>InLight Media<\/em><\/a>\n<p>What do you do with your sadness, grief, disappointment, anger, or confusion before God?<\/p>\n<p>Many Christians have been taught-explicitly or implicitly-to hide their negative emotions, put on a brave face, and &#8220;just have faith.&#8221; But when we open the pages of Scripture, we find something surprising: God&#8217;s people didn&#8217;t hide their pain. They brought it directly to Him. From David&#8217;s cries in the Psalms, to Job&#8217;s honest questions, to Jesus Himself in Gethsemane and on the cross, the Bible gives us a powerful and often-overlooked practice: lament.<\/p>\n<p>In this conversation, Nathan Ward explores what lament is, why it&#8217;s essential for spiritual health, and how it helps us process suffering without losing our faith. Rather than suppressing our emotions, Scripture invites us to bring them honestly before God.<\/p>\n<p>If you&#8217;ve ever wondered:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Is it okay to question God?<\/li>\n<li>Can Christians express anger, grief, or disappointment?<\/li>\n<li>What does biblical lament actually look like?<\/li>\n<li>How do I trust God when life doesn&#8217;t make sense?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>This episode is for you.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"God Never Asked You to Hide Your Pain\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/muFuu87tcyg?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by Nathan Ward via\u00a0InLight Media What do you do with your sadness, grief, disappointment, anger, or confusion before God? Many Christians have been taught-explicitly or implicitly-to hide their negative emotions, put on a brave face, and &#8220;just have faith.&#8221; But when we open the pages of Scripture, we find something surprising: God&#8217;s people didn&#8217;t hide&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1488],"tags":[652,182],"class_list":["post-95962","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-video","tag-grief","tag-suffering"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":98817,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/an-ancient-worship-practice-we-need-to-recover\/","url_meta":{"origin":95962,"position":0},"title":"An Ancient Worship Practice We Need to Recover","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 30, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeff Wilson and Jackson Sneed via InLight Media Why should Christians sing the Psalms when we live under the New Covenant? And what can the Psalter teach us about worship, theology, grief, and our relationship with God? In this conversation, we explore why the Psalms remain essential for Christian\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Video&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Video","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/video\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":98392,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/god-doesnt-explain-evil-he-does-something-about-it\/","url_meta":{"origin":95962,"position":1},"title":"God Doesn\u2019t Explain Evil. He Does Something About It.","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 2, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"by Dr. Nathan Ward via InLight Media Why does a good God allow evil and suffering? In this conversation, Nathan Ward explores the problem of evil, free will, suffering, God's goodness, and the Christian response to one of faith's hardest questions. Rather than offering an easy answer, he asks whether\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Video&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Video","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/video\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":84482,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-didnt-he-save\/","url_meta":{"origin":95962,"position":2},"title":"Why Didn&#8217;t He Save?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 12, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Chadwick Brewer Often, we hear people lament the loss of a loved one. They are hurting and mourning the loss of those they hold dear, and they struggle with the question of why Christ would not take away the pain, suffering, and loss - especially when He had done\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":95752,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/responding-to-trauma\/","url_meta":{"origin":95962,"position":3},"title":"Responding to Trauma","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 26, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"by Gardner Hall Three responses to trauma: Repress It \"I was mute and silent; I held my peace to no avail, and my distress grew worse\" (Psalms 39:2). The world is full of tragedy and suffering. Many are traumatized by the rejection of selfish spouses, parents, children, or brethren in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":93244,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-god-does-with-the-wounded\/","url_meta":{"origin":95962,"position":4},"title":"What God Does with the Wounded","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 17, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"by Matthew Allan Many are tired. Not just busy, but worn down: disappointment, loss, prayers that feel unanswered, strained relationships, and quiet grief that piles up over time. The Lord is near the brokenhearted; he saves those crushed in spirit (Psalms 34:18). God draws near, not away When people are\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":48766,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-can-god-expect-me-to-remain-a-christian-in-the-face-of-the-death-of-my-son\/","url_meta":{"origin":95962,"position":5},"title":"How can God expect me to remain a Christian in the face of the death of my son?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 26, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi there, I recently lost my newborn son due to a premature birth about a month ago. It has been really hard on both me and my husband. We have been gradually picking up our regular routines since it happened, like going back to work and church, but I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95962","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=95962"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95962\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95962"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95962"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95962"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}