When we hide our shameful thoughts & repress our negative emotions, we can easily spiral down th
When we hide our shameful thoughts & repress our negative emotions, we can easily spiral down the emotional staircase to hatred & despair. Far better it is to cry out to God like Job— pouring out to God in our pain & anger & demanding to be answered.A number of years back, Pierre Wolff wrote a wonderful little book on uncensored prayer. It is called “May I Hate God?” & it touches on the very center of our spiritual struggle. Our many unexpressed fears, doubts, anxieties & resentments, he says, prevent us from tasting & seeing the goodness of the Lord. Anger & hatred, which separate us from God & others, can also become the doorway to greater intimacy with God. Religious & secular taboos against expressing negative emotions evoke shame & guilt.Only by expressing our anger & resentment directly to God in prayer will we come to know the fullness of love & freedom. Only in pouring out our story of fear, rejection, hatred, & bitterness to God can we hope to be healed.The Psalms are filled with the raw & uncensored cries & agonies of God’s people, poured out to God & asking for deliverance. For example:My God, my God, why have you forsaken me…I cry out by day, but you do not answer, by night & I am not silent. (Psalm 22:1.2)I cried out to God for help: I cried out to God to hear me. When I was in distress, I sought the Lord; at night I stretched out untiring hands & my soul refused to be comforted. (Psalm 77:1.2)Hear, 0 Lord, & answer me, for I am poor & needy. (Psalm 86:1)The more we dare to show our whole trembling self to God, as did the ancients who prayed the Psalms, the more we will be able to sense that God’s love, which is perfect love, casts out our fears, purifies our thoughts & heals our hatred.– Henri Nouwen / Uncensored Prayer# # #vineyardfullerton -- source link
#vineyard fullerton