Your steadfast love, O Lord, extends to the heavens,
your faithfulness to the clouds.
Your righteousness is like the mountains of God;
your judgments are like the great deep;
man and beast you save, O Lord.
How precious is your steadfast love, O God!
The children of mankind take refuge in the shadow of your wings. Psalms 36:5-7
I lift up my eyes to the hills.
From where does my help come?
My help comes from the Lord,
who made heaven and earth. Psalms 121:1-2
When it all seems too much to handle, what is your place of refuge? Who do you turn to when you need to ‘vent’? Who is your ‘safety’? Have you ever considered the Lord in those times? I‘m embarrassed to share this personal story .. but it fits. At one point in my life — things were really tough in almost every part of my life, and to say I was frustrated with God …is saying it nicely. I knew I was His — I knew He had ‘called’ me, I knew He was near. But honestly? I was really, REALLY …MAD at Him. So one day in the privacy of a fifty thousand square foot warehouse where I was the only one working there — I let loose. I began to verbally yell at God. I shouted at Him with some VERY coarse nasty words …at the top of my lungs. I raged and raged at Him. Then when I was all done and exhausted …I fully expected Him to take me right then and there. What happened next …I’ll remember forever. He …in the calmest most loving Voice said to my mind “Well there you are. Finally. It was so good to see and hear the real you. You know you can be honest with me, its not like I don’t already know you and every thought and feeling you have. And I still love you. Let’s work through this together.” Then the feelings of His love washed over me . Needless to say .. I wept. That day I learned I could say anything to Him from my most honest heart — and He’d still love me. That I didn’t have to hold anything back from Him. I think He was waiting for me to recognize my own status of pain, and desperation. I came to understand I was trying to do so much under my own power.
There have been many, many other lessons since that time that He has given me that are teaching me to relinquish ALL of my fears, frustrations, and concerns to Him. And I’m still in that process of learning. In fact writing these devotionals has been another lesson in this journey of trusting Him… more and more. He is ALWAYS faithful. And I certainly recognize that His faithfulness isn’t what I think it should be, but it is what’s best for me, as He knows me better than I know myself.
And He also loves you the same way. I know this. God is no respecter of persons. His love has no boundaries. He will be your refuge if you let Him. He will be the best Person to vent to. Just try it. He can handle it. Haha.. I know this now …by personal experience.
Go ahead .. let Him know how you’re really feeling. Vent.
3 thoughts on “Vent.”
Took me some time to process and ponder this. Going through my journey with Jesus has taught me a lot. As I continue to grow, I am constantly reminded that the safest place I truly have to share the deepest reaches of my heart still is found in Christ alone. This week has been quite rough, and even though I do my best to keep it together for the sake of my family, breaking down to just be fried has been happening more and more often. While I haven’t cussed Him out as of late, I am much more cognizant of the things burdening me down. Even then, Holy Spirit is always so gracious to uncover even the things I was not aware of that were bothering me. Ever so gentle in His reminders, while at the same time cutting deeply. Within the vent, I have come to know the comforting tear stained smile of Jesus as he wraps his arms around me in ways that wash away the hurts of yesteryear. Vent, be honest, let Him meet you where you are.
I had a similar experience when I came back to God after running for ten years I was very angry with Him. When I broke I broke.
That’s good my friend and bring true.
I’ve been trying to teach people to be honest with the Lord, and truly believe it’s part of Him searching for those who will worship Him in Spirit and truth.