It's Ok to Be Not Ok: Preaching the Lament Psalms (Paperback or Softback)

How often have you seen a friend and been greeted with "How are you?" Almost always our automatic response is "Fine thank you" regardless of whether it's true.

We proclaim in church services that "God is good all the time . . . All the time God is good," but there are often times when we feel that life is just unfair and ask God, "Why?"

The uplifting songs and victorious testimonies of our church gatherings are frequently difficult to identify within the midst of the suffering and hardship of people's daily lives, yet there is all too often no room for our "not-OK" experiences in our Christian communities. This is especially true for pastors and leaders who are required to always be strong and OK all the time.

But the songs of lament in the Psalms paint a very different picture of understanding life and how human beings express themselves to God. Dr Rico Villanueva uses these Scriptures to teach us that in the presence of God, there is room to be "not-OK" and that our negative experiences don't have to be ignored. This book challenges us to confront our struggles and questions instead of denying them. Most importantly, the author invites us to bring all of ourselves into the presence of God and the community of faith. For it is through our experiences and sharing them with God and his church that we grow in intimacy with God and our relationships with one another.

FEDERICO G. VILLANUEVA, PhD, serves as the Regional Commissioning Editor for Langham Publishing and Scholar Care Coordinator of current Asian Langham scholars. He is author of several books, including "The Uncertainty of a Hearing: A Study of the Sudden Change of Mood in the Psalms of Lament" (Brill, 2008), and a number of commentaries in the Asia Bible Commentary series by Langham Global Library. He teaches part-time at the Asia Graduate School of Theology and Loyola School of Theology in Manila.