God Can Handle My Honesty

In review of Lamentations 2:19 I'm reminded to “Rise during the night and cry out. Pour out your hearts like water to the Lord” (NLT).

Today’s verse is from Lamentations 2:19a. It tells me to rise in the night and cry to God. Pour out my heart like water to the Lord.

I need to pour out my heart in the Lord's presence and turn from my sins and sincerely mourn my wrongs against God. It was my rebellion against God in the first place that has presented my problems and affected those around me. It is only when my prideful, independent heart is broke over my sin that God can come to my rescue. Just feeling sorry about experiencing sin's consequences does not bring forgiveness. But His Word tells me that if I cry out to God in repentance, he will forgive me.

When I face an awful setback, what do I do next? Do I just grin and bear it? Do I tell God what I think he wants to hear? No. The first thing I do is is tell God how I feel. I unload my pain. When I’m honest with God about my emotions, it’s actually an act of worship.

Job gives me a great example of this. Job loses everything—his family, his livestock, his home, and his wealth. But the Bible doesn’t sugarcoat his response. “Job stood up and tore his robe in grief. Then he shaved his head and fell to the ground to worship” (Job 1:20 NLT). Job grieved in the way Middle Easterners in his day would have done it, by tearing his robe and shaving his head. But then he worshiped God.

What I’m learning is that anytime I experience loss in my life, I’ll face four emotions:

Anger: Why did this happen to me?

Grief: What have I lost?

Shock: What’s going on here?

Fear: What’s going to happen next?

When I experience a setback, I need to express every one of those emotions. God can handle them because he is the one who gave them to you.

The only reason I have any emotions is because I’m made in the image of God. It’s what makes humans unique among God’s creation. God is an emotional God; he has emotions. He can handle my anger, grief, shock, and fear.

Job was brutally honest with God, and I can be, too. Job said, “I cannot keep from speaking. I must express my anguish. My bitter soul must complain” (Job 7:11 NLT). The right response to a setback isn’t to fake a good response. God never wants me to fake an emotion.

In one of the most difficult setbacks in the entire Bible, after Jerusalem had been looted and destroyed and the Israelites had been killed, enslaved, and exiled, the prophet Jeremiah writes this: “Rise during the night and cry out. Pour out your hearts like water to the Lord” (Lamentations 2:19 NLT).

With God, honesty is always the best policy.

In summary, rise and cry to God, pour out my heart like water to the Lord.  Turn from my sins, sincerely mourn my wrongs against God. It is only when my prideful independent heart is broke over my sin that God can come to my rescue. If I cry out in repentance to Him, he will forgive me.  Anytime I experience some type of loss, I'll face four emotions: anger, grief, shock and fear. I need to express every one of them. God can handle it. The right response to a setback isn't to fake a good response. I need to be real and honest with God. He can handle it.

I shouldn’t let pride get in my way or fake my emotions when setbacks occur. I can be honest with God, he can handle it. This morning Father I thank you for this reminder and ask you via the Holy Spirit to help me be prepared and remember this. You are a caring Father, who only wants what is best for me. I need to admit my part in it and express my feelings. Then allow you to guide me. I also pray Father for your wisdom and guidance in what I do today. These things I pray in your Son Jesus name, amen.