When We’re Bewildered and Angry At God
What do you do when it seems like God is not answering your prayer? What happens when it looks like he is answering it the wrong way? This morning I asked God so many whys. My trust in him wavers. One moment I trust him implicitly then things happen that causes it all to crumble.
My heart is crushed, the tears flow. I want to avoid God but I cry out to him in sadness, anger and confusion. The whys keep coming.
I know you’ve been there too. Just take a look around at the pain and suffering and it’s easy to see that we’re aren’t the only ones and when tough times show up the answers are not always cut and dried.
What do you do when God is silent? This morning God gave me a reminder of what to do, I’ll share it with you:
Draw nearer to God instead of pulling away.
When things aren’t going the way I think it should, when it seems like God is not answering my prayers I am tempted to pull away from him and all that he represents. Thoughts of abandoning prayer, skipping church, giving up offices in church and ignoring his word come to mind. I look instead for solutions from friends or seek out the answers within myself.
But God reminds me of Jeremiah 29:13 where he says,
“You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”
I can bring my tired, broken heart to him and he hears. My honesty doesn’t offend him but rather gives me clarity. My honesty doesn’t cause him to look at me any different (cause he knows my heart anyway) but rather draws me closer to him. He bids me go. Go to church, go pick up his word, seek him in prayer and keep pressing on.
Praise God in song and words instead of complaining
God gave me a second answer to my distress this morning through my son. He loves to sing the song “I will sing of Jesus Love” and though I planned to keep our worship time short this morning he insisted that we sing together that song (laughing). God is so amazing. The words of that song are just what I needed to take me out of the blues and he gave them to me through a six year old boy. I am reminded of Psalm 40:3:
“He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God; many will see and fear and will trust in the LORD.”
God gave me a new song this morning because I obeyed his voice and praised him instead of complaining.
Find a truth friend.
God never does a job half way. He always does a complete work. He gave me a truth friend in my mom this morning. She is never afraid to point out truth and God impressed her to call when I needed to hear truth most. I love the Lord, I cannot help but love him. I see his hand at work so many times in my life. He has me surrounded by his love, his word and a truth friend whom he can use to speak truth directly to me. He uses my mom, my friend, to strengthen me when I am weak. Thus strengthened I can now continue to work for him. He makes me whole and when I am down again he will do it all over again.
Proverbs 12:26, “One who is righteous is a guide to his neighbor…”
Yes, we get angry and confused but that is ok! It is okay as long as we place those feelings at the feet of Jesus. He can handle our honesty. In fact he welcomes it because it is only through honesty that he will make us whole. Draw nearer to God and he’ll draw nearer to you and when he’s ready to answer you’ll hear it clearly.
Say with me:
Heavenly Father, your word is a balm for the broken and bewildered. It is food for the hungry and a comfort in times of distress. You word is filled with promises but more than that it reveals what a great and loving God you are.
Thank you father for redeeming us, for giving us new life in your son Jesus Christ. Thank you for claiming us as yours even in our broken and battered states. In your arms we can find security and peace. You’ve never promised that there won’t be trials but you did promise to be with us all through the trials. Help us to recognize that you are all we really need.
In spite of how we feel right this moment help us to remember that we are precious and honored in your sight as evidence by the death of your beloved son and there is no one on this earth that can change that. If you spared not your son we can be assured that there is nothing that you won’t graciously give to us. Therefore we are not afraid in spite of how bleak our situation looks. We give you full control, take it Lord and write a story of our lives that is better than we ever imagined. We praise you and thank in the precious name of Jesus. Amen.
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If My People Pray
If My People Pray: An Eleventh-Hour Call to Prayer and Revival
I purchased this book about 6 months ago and it has grown to be a handbook of sorts for me. I believe that Christians, you and me, don’t pray enough. Yet God has blessed and continue to bless us in so many ways. Can you imagine what would happen if we prayed more? In this book the author Pastor Randy Maxwell explores the verse from Chronicles 7:14
If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
I purchased this book to use in several church programs in an effort to get our church community to pray more and the book has blessed me in so many ways. I myself have struggled and still struggle with prayer. At times my prayer life is like a well overflowing with rich goodness and other times it becomes as dried up and fruitless as the desert sands but every day I exercise my faith in God and get on my knees and even when I feel that I accomplished nothing God reveals and rewards my faith throughout the day.
If you are looking to have a closer walk with God then look no further that If My People Pray, it will change your life.
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