Tuesday, November 24. 2020
Consider and answer me, O Lord my God; light up my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death, lest my enemy say, “I have prevailed over him,” lest my foes rejoice because I am shaken. But I have trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation. I will sing to the Lord, because he has dealt bountifully with me. Psalm 13:3-6
At times it can feel like God does not hear our cries at all, but the truth is that we have a Heavenly Father that loves us and wants to know what breaks our heart. He invites us to come to Him and lay every burden at His feet, offering us His peace and rest in return. Pain, grief, and sorrow can completely overwhelm us if we are not careful. When we do not intentionally turn our burndens into praise and thanksgiving to Him, they can turn into discontent and bitterness. The devil loves nothing more than for God’s people to become bitter in their despair, and turn away from Him.
Lamenting to God
Pouring out our hearts to God is trusting Him with the most tender parts. This offering of sorrow to God is lamnenting. Lamenting to God is not complaining. It is prayer to God, telling Him about our pain and trusting Him with it all. Lamenting has some distinct elements:
Lamenting turns our focus back to God - When we lament to God, we take our pain to the exact place it belongs. Sometimes pain makes us want to run from God, from anyone who wants to talk to us about God, or anything that reminds us of Him. It may be hopelessness, or anger against Him, or just the natural response to pain - turning inward. When we go to God, we find comfort and peace we can rest in, as we see things through a heavenly perspective.
Lamenting allows us to tell God our hurts and ask Him questions - When we lament to God, we can genuinely lay it all out - hurts, things we don’t understand, and we can ask Him hard questions - like Why? We may not ever know the answer to every question we have for Him, but we can honestly bring all we doh’t understand to Him.
Lamenting strengthens our trust and faith in God - When we trust God enough to open our hearts to Him in lament, our faith is strengthened. Trust and faith bring hope to our hurting hearts - hope in the only true source of hope we have. He is soverign over every tiny detail in our lives. As we pour everhything out to God, we are reminded of His love for us, His promises to us, and His faithfulness in the past. This is where lamenting turns into praise.
Praise is both thanksgiving for the past and trust for the future even
when poured out in pain. - Van Houser
Praise and thansgiving are a weapon against the enemy. He wants us to be buried under the weight of our burdens and despair, but even in the midst of the hardest circumstances we can give praise and thanksgiving to our soverign God. This praise and thanksgiving turns our sorrow into the strongest weapon against satan - faith in the promises of God.
Go to your heavenly Father with your sorrows. Tell Him everything, give Him your frustrations, and ask Him all the questions. He is ready and waiting to exchange your pain for His love and care. Turn it into praise and thanksgiving for all He is, all He has done, and all He will do in the future.
Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is,
the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name. Hebrews 13:15
