In
Soul Feast Marjorie Thompson writes:
Many of us have absorbed tacit or
explicit taboos about what we are permitted to bring into prayer. We may have learned, for instance, that
doubt, anger, hatred, or despair were inappropriate to express to God. Yet we know what happens to human relationships
when negative feelings are suppressed.
Communication becomes artificial or breaks down; the two parties become
emotionally estranged; intimacy becomes impossible. Why should we imagine it is different with
God? In prayer, we need to speak whatever
truth is in us: pain and grief, fear and
disappointment, yearning and desire, questions and doubt, hope and faith,
failure and weakness, praise and thanks, despair and sorrow, anger and, yes,
even hatred.[1]
Psalm 35 is a perfect
example of a prayer that has many of those elements. The Psalmist feels under attack and betrayed
and his response to those feelings is to take them to God. Friends God is so much more that the person
who sits in a faraway place deciding whether we go to Heaven or Hell. God is so much more than the one we take our
laundry list of requests too. If you don’t
know God within the space of an intimate relationship then you are missing
out.
God is our creator and God loves each and every one of us
in the most pure and intimate way imaginable.
We can only come to realize this if we make him a part of our every
moment. Think of the person here on
earth that you are closest to. Can you
imagine going a day without talking to them?
Can you imagine not sharing with them all of your hopes and dreams, your
heartaches and despair? Why, then would
you expect anything less from your relationship with God. God speaks to us through our prayers and
through our reflections on his Word.
A friend once said to me that they didn’t pray as much as
I did because they were not called.
Friends, we are all called to pray.
We are all called into an intimate relationship with God. I invite you to draw yourselves nearer to
God. Next time you are feeling angry and
betrayed and in despair turn those feelings to God and share them. You might be surprised at the outcome. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the
Holy Spirit. Amen.
[1]
Norman Shawchuck and Rueben P. Job, A
Guide to Prayer for All Who Seek God (Upper Room Books, Nashville, 2006)
pg. 279-280
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