Getting It All Out

You know from many years of Sunday school that believers are supposed to “do everything without grumbling or arguing.” (Philippians 2:14 TNIV) And yet, some days you feel so frustrated that you’re ready to explode. Sometimes it’s little things: your sister drinking all the orange juice or your best friend forgetting to return your favorite shirt. Sometimes it’s big things: your mom yelling at you for no good reason or an unfair grade on a test. You bottle up your feelings, pretending things are great. When you pray, she feel like a phony.

You have a wrong idea about being honest with God. He’s the one person to whom you can always tell the absolute truth. If it weren’t all right to be totally honest with God, would David have written these Psalms? “O LORD, hear me as I pray; pay attention to my groaning.” (Psalm 5:1 NLT) “Give heed to me and answer me; I am restless in my complaint and am surely distracted.” (Psalm 55:2 NASU) And in Psalm 142:2 (TNIV), David says, “I pour out before him my complaint; before him I tell my trouble.” Being totally honest with God about your feelings is good. It isn’t the same as grumbling about your life to everyone you meet. It’s just sharing your feelings with him so you can sort them out together—and he can help you in each situation. Talk to God. He cares.