Pour Out Your Hearts To God

Image by Steve Punter via Flickr

I pour out my complaint before him...'
Psalm 142:2

Learn to pray the Psalms. They run the gamut of human emotion from thanksgiving, to anger, to fear, to loneliness, to grief. The Psalmist doesn't miss a beat when it comes to life. Not life as we wish it was, but life as it is: 'I pour out my complaint before him; before him I tell my trouble.' He vents his pain to God, he allows himself to 'feel it.' That takes courage, especially when you just want to put on a brave face. John Ortberg wrote: 'I regret the pain of failure so keenly that I backed away from owning it and learning from it. I could not heal and move on. I wanted to bury it so deeply that no one would ever guess it was there-not even me.' Sound familiar?

The Bible doesn't discourage the grieving process, it just warns us not to get stuck in it. '...Weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning...' (Psalm 30:5 NIV). To reach your morning of rejoicing you must go through your night of weeping. FB Meyer writes: 'There are some who chide tears as unmanly, un-submissive, un-Christian. They comfort us with a chill, bidding us to put on a rigid and tearless countenance. We may well ask if a man who cannot weep can really love? Sorrow is just love bereaved; its most natural expression is tears. Jesus wept. The Ephesian converts wept on the neck of the Apostle Paul whose face they were never to see again. So go ahead and pour out your heart to God. It's a vital step to becoming whole.

Used with permission from UCB Word for Today. Free issues are available here for the UK and Republic of Ireland.

Comments

Mike's Travels said…

We were discussing tears yesterday, over lunch. We all admitted it, even the men. Crying is normal... a relief. I often do what this post suggests. I bury my failures and worries and hardly know they are there, except for the symptoms of sleepless nights and irritability that inevitably surface. It's hard to admit and recognise all that buried stuff, but God will bring it to light eventually and tears will be a gift to release it all.

26 July 2010 at 10:05

A Bit of the Blarney said…

I have always considered tears the cleansing of the soul. I also find in my case they are a visible sign of thanks offered to those who have generously touched my life. I cry not in sadness, but often in joy! Happiness can bring forth tears from me...Yes, I cry "for happy" too! Wonderful post, Mike! Thank you! Cathy

26 July 2010 at 11:45

Wanda said…

Enjoyed this one. I like the thought of sorrow just being love bereaved. I think sometimes we're either on the two extremes of no grieving or getting stuck in grief. Finding the middle ground is needed. I find a good cry releases the stress.

26 July 2010 at 14:00