When life goes wrong, and things aren’t as they should be, our hearts are often filled with all sorts of thoughts and emotions — anger, confusion, despair, anxiety, sadness, and so much more. We might wonder, can I really say this to God?
Well, the truth is: God will receive everything that is in your heart.
Two of my favorite Psalms, Psalms 88 and 137, demonstrate this reality. You would likely never hear anything like them sung in worship services. Just look at the words! Feeling utterly alone and deserted by God. Blessing the one who smashes the babies of our enemies. How could these show us anything about God? Yet they are included forever in the eternal playlist of God’s people. They show us the truth that God receives everything that is in our hearts — no matter what.
So when your heart is overwhelmed with emotion because of what’s going wrong, remember these three things.
1. Your Cries Demonstrate Your Trust In God
Some might say that if you complain or lament, you aren’t trusting God. But look at Psalm 88:1: “O LORD, the God who saves me, day and night I cry out before you.” The reality is that the people you trust the most are the people you tell everything to — good or bad; clean language or raw and unfiltered. That’s what you naturally do with trustworthy people. So take confidence! Your very desire to speak to God, even to lament, shows how much you trust Him.
2. God Hears Your Lament And Anger, No Matter How Raw
There is no “proper” way to lament. God invites you to be brutally honest with Him, especially when bad things lead to raw emotions. Look at these lines from the two Psalms:
- “You have taken from me my closest friends….” (Psalm 88:8)
- “Why, O LORD, do you reject me and hide your face from me?” (Psalm 88:13)
- “The darkness is my closest friend.” (Psalm 88:18)
- “Happy is he… who seizes your infants and dashes them against the rocks.” (Psalm 137:9)
God’s response to this raw language is to put them in Scripture so His people can sing it forever. So we can be confident that He can receive anything we say to Him.
3. You Don’t Have To Fix Yourself
You might think that at some point, you need to stop lamenting. Just clean yourself up, and get back to praising God. But if you look at the last two quotes from above, you’re reading exactly how those two Psalms end. That’s it. No praise or thanks. No easy or quick resolution. So it’s okay to lament and just stay there. It’s okay to cry out to God without also praising Him. He receives this. He receives you — just as you are.
Now, I invite you to lament to God. Here are two prompts from Psalms 88 and 137. Use these Psalms to name what is in your heart. Tell God what you’re feeling. If prayer on your own seems too overwhelming, tell a safe person or journal. Listen to the words that come into your heart, the emotions you feel, and the sensations you notice in your body. And talk with God about these things.
1. “The darkness is my closest friend.”
Where in your life do you feel utterly alone? Are you in a place where no one seems to understand you? Where even the light of God doesn’t seem to shine through? Where are the places in which you find no comfort? Name these places to the Lord.
2. “How can we sing the songs of the LORD in a foreign land?”
What recent changes in your life (due to COVID-19, for example) have left you longing for old places or routines where you used to feel the presence of God closely? In your current situation, do you feel like you don’t experience God in the same way? Name those places in your life. Tell God how much you miss them. Tell Him how hard it is to find Him in the new areas.
May you experience the compassion and comfort of the Lord as you tell Him what’s in your heart