{"id":69,"date":"2010-09-05T07:00:57","date_gmt":"2010-09-05T11:00:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.fbclafayette.org\/?p=69"},"modified":"2011-12-12T09:29:23","modified_gmt":"2011-12-12T14:29:23","slug":"can-i-tell-god-i-am-angry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/can-i-tell-god-i-am-angry\/","title":{"rendered":"Can I Tell God I’m Angry?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"CryingQuestion<\/strong><\/h2>\n

<\/strong>I have heard it is wrong to be angry at God.\u00a0 Does that mean I should never tell Him how I feel?<\/p>\n

Answer<\/strong><\/h2>\n

<\/strong>Some of God’s greatest servants regularly cried out to God.\u00a0 Emotional authenticity is a mark of spiritual maturity.<\/p>\n

Consider the OT Prophets<\/strong><\/p>\n

Jeremiah is known as the weeping prophet.\u00a0 His book Lamentations contains these words:<\/p>\n

My soul has been rejected from peace; I have forgotten happiness. So I say, \u201cMy strength has perished, and so has <\/em>my hope from the Lord.\u201d Remember my affliction and my wandering, the wormwood and bitterness. Surely my soul remembers and is bowed down within me. This I recall to my mind, therefore I have hope. The Lord\u2019s lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

We sometimes forget that, in this case, the path to Jeremiah’s understanding and rejoicing in God’s compassion and faithfulness included him honestly expressing his emotions to His God.<\/p>\n

The same is true of the prophet Habakkuk.\u00a0 In the first chapter of his book<\/a>, he brought his questions (respectful complaints?) to the very throne of God.\u00a0 Far from being chided or condemned, God interacted with his servant in a way that increased the understanding of God’s people both then and now.<\/p>\n

Consider the Psalms<\/strong><\/p>\n

These marvelous chapters are often filled with sorrow and lament as David and other writers cry out to the Lord.\u00a0 One of my favorite passages in all of Scripture is Psalm 61:1-2 :<\/p>\n

Hear my cry, O God; give heed to my prayer. From the end of the earth I call to You when my heart is faint; lead me to the rock that is higher than I.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Psalm 73<\/cite> is another tremendous example of a man who honestly poured out his heart to the Lord.\u00a0 If you have not visited that chapter recently, I would encourage you to do so, and to read it slowly and carefully.\u00a0 The solutions to his questions are eventually found, but only after he came honestly before the Lord and poured out his heart.<\/p>\n

As commentators Barker and Bailey observed, God is the friend of the honest doubter who dares to talk to God rather than about him. Prayer that includes an element of questioning God may be a means of increasing one\u2019s faith. Expressing doubts and crying out about unfair situations in the universe show one\u2019s trust in God and one\u2019s confidence that God should and does have an answer to humanity\u2019s insoluble problems.\u00a0[Kenneth L. Barker and Waylon Bailey, The New American Commentary<\/em>, vol. 20 (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman, 1998), 277-78.]\n

Consider Our Savior<\/strong><\/p>\n

The ultimate example of this principle is the tender interaction between our Redeemer and the Heavenly Father in the garden just prior to Christ dying on the cross for our sins.\u00a0 Luke 22:42 – \u201cFather, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Yours be done.\u201d<\/p>\n

So the next time you find yourself in a season of suffering–great or small, do not ignore your emotions as if God does not care about how you feel.\u00a0 Be like the OT prophets.\u00a0 Be like the psalmists.\u00a0 Be like our Savior.\u00a0 “Casting all your care upon Him, knowing the He cares for you” (1 Peter 5:7).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Question I have heard it is wrong to be angry at God.\u00a0 Does that mean I should never tell Him how I feel? Answer Some of God’s greatest servants regularly cried out to God.\u00a0 Emotional authenticity is a mark of spiritual maturity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[105],"tags":[115,117,116,65],"yoast_head":"\nCan I Tell God I'm Angry? - Faith Church Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/can-i-tell-god-i-am-angry\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Can I Tell God I'm Angry? - Faith Church Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Question I have heard it is wrong to be angry at God.\u00a0 Does that mean I should never tell Him how I feel? 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