Dr. Rick Mandl - August 4, 2020
Please Scream Inside Your Heart
Please Scream Inside Your Heart
Tuesday August 4, 2020
Hey church family... A couple weeks ago the Wall Street Journal wrote a story about how several theme parks in Japan have recently reopened, but… In an effort to keep the coronavirus contained, they’ve banned screaming on roller coasters. To enforce this no-screaming policy, they are communicating a simple message and their message is this: “Please scream inside your heart.”
...“Please scream inside your heart.”
Of course, it didn’t take long for people from all over the Internet to make this the official motto of the year. “2020: Please Scream Inside Your Heart.” In response to the “no-screaming” campaign, one roller-coaster fan said, “There’s just no way not to scream." Well, in all fairness, two executives of the Fuji-Q Highland amusement park released a promotional video in which they ride a 230-foot-tall roller coaster in complete silence (so, technically, there is a way). But I still have to agree with the fan’s complaint. Riding a roller coaster without being able to scream is simply no way to live.
Even though we’re not living in Japan, and even though most of our amusement parks remain closed, a lot of people subscribe to the philosophy that if you have to scream, “Please scream inside your heart.” Thankfully, the Bible encourages a different approach. The Bible tells us to let it all out. The Apostle Paul describes the Christian response to suffering in his letter to the Romans, “The whole creation has been groaning in labor pains,” he writes. “Not only the creation, but we ourselves who have the first fruits of the Spirit.” In other words, everybody hurts. Paul makes clear that catastrophe does not discriminate and that Christians are hardly exempt from suffering.
Jesus knew what it was to suffer. And during his moment of greatest suffering, on the Cross, when he felt abandoned by his heavenly Father. Jesus didn’t scream inside his heart. Rather, he cried aloud for all to hear, “Father, why have you forsaken me?” That gives you permission to do the same. Rather than removing himself from suffering, Jesus entered into it. And whatever you’re going through right now, just know that you’re not alone - Jesus enters into it with you
In His word “God asks the question – Is any of you hurting?” If your answer to that is YES, his counsel to you is not to Scream Inside Your Heart, but rather the cry out to Him in prayer with the assurance that He hears you, and he cares, and he will respond to your prayer.
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