Soul Devotional - November 4, 2014

Don’t Hide Your Pain, Tell God About It 

“Get up, cry out in the night, even as the night begins. Pour out your heart like water in prayer to the Lord.” Lamentations 2:19 

Think you’ve had a bad day? If you’ve ever read the book of Job, you quickly learn here is an individual who’s faced pain and loss. In Job chapter one, after everything fell apart in his life, Job “stood up, tore his robe in grief, and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground and worshiped” (Job 1:20).

Job expressed his pain to God. When you have a major loss in your life, the first thing you need to do is go to God. Tell God exactly how you are feeling.

God can handle your anger and frustration. He can handle your emotions. Why? Because he gave them to you. You were made in the image of God, and he is an emotional God. 

God is bigger than your emotion's and it’s ok to tell him exactly how you feel. When you prayed for a promotion, and it didn’t happen, when a loved one walks out of your life, when you get the dreaded call saying, “It’s cancer,” you can tell God, “I’m mad. I’m upset. I’m sick. I’m frustrated. I’m ticked off. I doubt.” God can handle all your complaints, your questions, your fear, and your grief. God’s love for you is bigger than all of your emotions. 

The right response to unexplained tragedy is NOT to suck it up. Lamentations 2:19 says, “Get up, cry out in the night, even as the night begins. Pour out your heart like water in prayer to the Lord”. When was the last time you cried out in the night to God? When was the last time you poured out your heart like water to God? 

Joe Kendrick (Student Director)