Pray Your Pain Out

Psalm 142:2 - I pour out my problems to him; I tell him troubles.

Disappointment. Rejection. Illness. Accident. Pandemic. You’re hurting right now. Pray your pain out.
Go ahead, pound the table. March up and down the lawn. It’s time for determined, honest prayers. Angry at God? Disappointed at his strategy? Ticked off at his choices? Let him know it. Let him have it! Jeremiah did. This ancient prophet pastored Jerusalem during a time of crisis. Unemployment. Disaster. Refugee camps. Hunger. Death. Jeremiah saw it all. His book in the Bible, Lamentations, could be summed up with one line: this life is rotten! So why would God include it? Maybe as an example for you?
Call out your complaints. God will not turn away at your anger. Even Jesus offered up prayers with “loud cries and tears” [Hebrews 5:7]. It’s better to shake a fist at God than turn your back to him. Words might seem hollow and empty at first. You will mumble your sentences, fumble your thoughts. But don’t quit. And don’t hide. God hears your list of hurts. He is ready to heal.
Thought –
The hardest part about being hurt is going through it alone. We so often try to hide it from everyone and pretend nothing happened. This isn’t what God wants! He wants to hear from us, even when our words are little more than angry arrows. Talking about it is the first step to healing.
Love ya
Randy