“Wake up, O Lord! Why do you sleep? Get up! Do not reject us forever» (Psalm 44:23, NLT).
If you carefully read the book of Psalms, you will be surprised at how many furious prayers you will find. If David were alive today, I am not sure how many churches would allow him to sing his psalms. (If you think I’m exaggerating, read Psalm 79 or Psalm 109). Beyond how uncomfortable imprecatory psalms currently make us feel, one thing is clear: God is not scared of our feelings, not even the most difficult ones! We can speak to God about our anger, even if it is directed toward Him. In his article “Angry, Glad, Heartbroken?” for America Magazine, Richard Clifford comments, “The Psalms do not hesitate to express anger at what God has done or failed to do. Psalm 44:23 even accuses God sleeping on the job.”
Sometimes we think it is inappropriate or impolite to speak to God that way; that “revealing” our anger would be a sin. However God already knows all our thoughts. When we share our angry thoughts with Him, we open an avenue of redemption. As Christian psychologist Dan Allender writes in Cry of the Soul: “Change comes through brutal honesty and vulnerability before God. Only face to face with our deepest ruling passions is there hope of redeeming the fabric of our inner world.”
Many of us were trained to filter our prayers through a sort of theological correction sieve. If we consider a feeling is not right, we do not mention it. Since we are afraid our anger will offend God, we keep it repressed, far from our prayers (and, therefore, far from redeption). Surprisingly, David did exactly the opposite: he presented his anger before God with a frankly brutal honesty. Instead of sending lightning down from heaven and annihilating him, God said David was a man after His own heart. If you are struggling with anger today, follow his example. Stop to pray and share that feeling with God. Ask Him to examine you and transform you into His image.
Dear Lord, thank You because, though You already know all my feelings, You still love me. Teach me to open my heart to You like David, to share my anger and bitterness with honesty.
I want to give You total access to my feelings so that You can transform them into Your likeness.
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Take From: Devotional Thoughts for Women 2022
«NO FEARS»
BY: VANEZA PISSUTO
Collaborators: Alexandra Pérez & Angelica Cuate.
