Fine' Is A Four-Letter Word Especially When You're Not OK

2 Kings 4:24-27; Psalm 145:18,19

Soul Food

2 Kings 4:24-27

“She saddled the donkey and said to her servant, “Lead on; don’t slow down for me unless I tell you.” So she set out and came to the man of God at Mount Carmel.

When he saw her in the distance, the man of God said to his servant Gehazi, “Look! There’s the Shunammite! Run to meet her and ask her, ‘Are you all right? Is your husband all right? Is your child all right?’ ”

“Everything is all right,” she said.

When she reached the man of God at the mountain, she took hold of his feet. Gehazi came over to push her away, but the man of God said, “Leave her alone! She is in bitter distress, but the Lord has hidden it from me and has not told me why.”

Psalm 145:18,19

“The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth.

He fulfills the desires of those who fear him; he hears their cry and saves them.”

Soul Search

• What kind of person do you see yourself as being?
  Independent?
  Tough?
  Resilient?
  If these are words that you believe describe you, why do you think – apart from your birth ‘nature’ – that you’re all of those things?

• Often, life’s experiences and challenges help to forge and shape who we have become.
  If we are independent and tough and resilient we have often been shaped that way because we have had to cope and survive challenging and difficult things.
  What are those things that have shaped you?
  Can you talk about them?

• When you’re not doing well - emotionally, spiritually and physically – who do you tell?
  Do you more easily open up about physical struggles than you do about spiritual or emotional struggles?
  If so, why do you think that is?

• Can you put into words why you don’t share your struggles more openly and why the word “Fine” might be a four-letter word for you because you know it’s not honest or transparent?

Soul Moves

• Ask God to show you by His Holy Spirit why you might be too independent, resilient and ‘tough.’

• Consider the idea of getting quiet with God and writing down the things that have happened in your life – the difficult and challenging things – that have caused you to build a tough exterior and encourage the use of the four-letter word ‘Fine.’

• Practice with people you trust saying “I’m not doing so good.”
  This will have to be with people that you think care about you enough that they won’t mind having you unload with what’s not going so well.

• Ask God to help you deal with the pride that has created the illusion that you’re tough as nails.
  Ask God to deal a death-blow to the pride that keeps you from being real and honest and that keeps you from showing your weakness and vulnerability.