February 2, 2025 Devo

It’s okay to be honest with God. I think we sometimes feel as if we have to butter Him up all the time. But we don’t. God’s not fragile. He already knows what we’re thinking and feeling, so we’re at a much better place with Him when we’re completely open about what we’re going through. In fact, I’d go so far as to say we’re CLOSER to God when we’re honest about our negative feelings toward Him than we are when we’re telling Him things we think He wants to hear but they are not things we really mean. We forget that God can’t be flattered, conned, or schmoozed. The good news is that we don’t have to.
I remember several years ago when a woman, who was a close friend of Wanda and me, had a fiancé who was killed in a car accident. She was, of course, devastated. She was also new to the faith and was trying to reconcile her broken heart to a God who she believed was watching over her. “How could God let this happen?” she kept asking. As we sat with her, cried with her, and prayed with her, we assured her it was okay to feel what she was feeling. We said, “It’s okay to be angry with God. God is big enough to handle your anger.”
David gives us a good model of this in our verse today. He openly expresses his frustrations and feelings of abandonment. “O Lord, why do you stand so far away? Why do you hide when I am in trouble?” In other words, “It seems like when I need you the most, you’re the furthest away!” Now David KNEW God hadn’t gone anywhere. And he KNEW that God wasn’t hiding. But in the midst of his struggles that wasn’t how he felt. So he got honest with God. It was only as he became honest with God about how he was feeling that he gave God the opportunity to respond to his deepest needs. He was holding onto God in his head, but he needed God to draw close to his heart.
Maybe that’s where some of you are today. You’re feeling lost or lonely. You’re feeling afraid or abandoned. Maybe you’re grieving a painful loss. It’s okay. It’s a part of our human experience and our journey of faith. God made you and understands you. Pour out your heart to Him today in complete openness and honesty. Let Him all the way in and don’t hold anything back. God can only heal what you’re bold enough to reveal. And trust me. He’s big enough to handle your emotions. That’s God’s Word for you today.