CAN I BE HONEST?

 Psalms 6:3 (NIV)

My soul is in anguish. How long, O LORD, how long?

               If you were angry at God, would you tell him? If you were frustrated with God, would you express your feelings honestly?

               I have been reading Tim Keller’s book on prayer and this morning I read a section about intercession. Most often, much of the content of our prayers falls into this category. We ask God for things we need or want. We pray for others, asking for healing or a job or the reconciliation of a relationship. All of these things are acceptable. Jesus invites us to make our requests to God.

               Keller points out that there is an aspect of intercession that we often omit; complaint. Not only are we uncomfortable with complaining to God, we feel it is inappropriate. We have been taught to pray in the most positive terms possible, even when we feel anything but positive. We are afraid God will be angry with us if we express our doubts, frustrations, and anger. Yet, God already knows all about these feelings. Still, we find it hard to express them directly to God, even though we might verbalize them to others.

               In the book of Psalms, there are at least 42 Psalms of lament. King David, in particular, was not afraid to express his deepest emotions to God in prayer. What we often miss as we read the Psalms is that they were intended to be used in public worship. These were not just the private musing of David and others. These were to be sung as a corporate act of worship.

               The Psalms can teach us much about expressing our emotions honestly before God. The first thing that we must grasp is that it is okay! God is not threatened by our complaints. God is not put off when we express anger or frustration. God’s love for us is not diminished in any way when we are openly honest with Him. We know that in a human relationship, trying to hide our anger or frustration is destructive. As hard as it is at times to be honest with our emotions, it is the only way to really deal with them. Once they are out in the open, we can address the root cause and move forward. What is true in our relationships with others is true in our relationship with God.

               Not only is it okay for us to express our emotions before God, He invites us to do just that. God wants us to be honest with Him about how we feel, even if those emotions are negative. By expressing our deep emotions to God, we open the door for God to answer our complaints. In the process, we can gain a better understanding of why we feel the way we do. We can begin to put our emotions into perspective. In the vast majority of lament Psalms the author ends with a new or clearer understanding of who God is and that He can be trusted.

               Somewhere along the line I was taught that the only question that God will not answer is the question why. I think that this is only partially true. Some of the ultimate questions, such as why God allowed a certain tragedy to occur, will probably remain a mystery to us. But on the other hand, there are many occasions when God is more than ready to answer our why questions. When we ask why we feel a certain way or act in a certain way, God will lead us to understand more about who we are and the motives that are hidden even from us. Not only will God give us a better understanding of ourselves, He will also give us a deeper understanding of who He is.

               In 2 Corinthians, Paul relates his struggle with what he called his thorn in the flesh. Three times he prayed and asked God to take it away, but God did not. Then, in an implied why question, God revealed to Paul that He would give Paul the strength and the grace to endure his affliction. God had not abandoned Paul, but was calling Paul to a deeper level of trust and reliance upon God.

               When we have the courage to honestly express our emotions to God, we open the door for God to do a work in our lives that goes far deeper than the presenting issues. God is in the process of shaping our character so that we might be transformed into the image of Christ. That journey often leads us through some dark valleys where it is hard for us to see the light. As we openly express what we are feeling, we invite God to shine His light into our situation. Like Paul, God is calling us to learn to trust Him at a much deeper level.

               On Sunday, we sung the hymn, It Is Well with My Soul. It is a powerful and challenging hymn that encourages us to rest in the loving arms of Jesus even when our world seems to be in chaos. But before we can truly rest in Jesus’ loving arms, we need to be honest with ourselves and with God that from our perspective it does not feel like it is well with my soul.

               In the book of Job, Job openly complains to God about his situation. God never let’s Job in on the secret behind why all this was happening to him. But in the end, God calls Job a righteous person. Job was honest with God and God honored him for it.

               Job and the Psalms teach us that God wants us to honestly express our emotions to Him. By releasing our anger and frustration to God we open the door for God to replace them with His peace and assurance.

Psalms 42:11 (NIV)
Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.

 

IS GOD AN EGOTIST?

 Psalms 103:1 (NIV)

Praise the LORD, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name.

               In my devotions I have been reading Tim Kellers book on prayer. Today, I read about the role of praise to God in our prayers. Keller makes the point that our prayers should begin with praise of God, in order to put everything else into perspective.

               Praise and worship of God is at the center of our faith. We gather on Sundays to give God praise. It is at the very core of what it means to be a community of faith. 50 times in the Psalms we are either commanded or encouraged to praise God. Keller raises the question, why should we praise God? Does God need our praise? Is God an egotist?

               To answer that question, Keller turns to C.S. Lewis for help. Lewis struggled with the idea of praise and worship when he first became a believer. As he put it, we look down on the person who is constantly looking for the praise of others, the person who needs accolades to feel good about themselves. If this is an undesirable characteristic among people, why are we commanded to give praise to God?

               As Lewis contemplated this question, he realized that he had missed on important component of praise. Generally, in life, we praise those things that we value the most. We also praise those things that bring us pleasure. We praise a beautiful sunset. We praise a masterful piece of art. We praise a stirring piece of music. We praise a well-played performance. We also praise the people we love and the things we love. Praise comes naturally to us. It is our normal response to things that move us in some way. We can’t help it.

               But there is another aspect that takes praise even deeper. Our praise actually heightens and completes our experience. Our satisfaction and delight are increased when we genuinely praise something. Suanne and I had the privilege of seeing a Broadway production of Aladdin recently. That was several weeks ago, yet even last night I praised the performance to our son. In a way, our praise allows us to enter back into the experience.

               I experienced the flip side of this years ago as I drove to a meeting in northern Minnesota. I was driving at night out in the country. It was very dark. Then the sky erupted with the northern lights. It was one of the most amazing things I had ever seen. Yet there was no one with me. I wanted to share the experience, to describe it, to praise it, yet I could not. It was so frustrating.

               Lewis and Keller make the point that God invites us to praise Him, not because He needs it, but because we do. Our experience of God is enhanced by praise. Our appreciation of God is deepened through praise. Our love for God is expanded in praise. Our commitment to God is solidified in praise. The more we understand who God is and what He has done for us, our natural response is to give Him praise.

               One of the reasons we may have trouble with giving praise to God is that we have been programmed to find fault rather than give praise. We hear far more criticism in our everyday lives than praise. Excellence is expected as the norm. Anything less is called out. Even within the church we are hesitant to give praise. I knew a man who refused to praise his children because he felt it fostered pride. I really struggled with that as a child. Somehow, I got the idea in my head that to receive praise for something that I had done was prideful and therefore wrong. Jesus’ statements in the Sermon on the Mount about the Pharisees seeking the praise of men haunted me. (Matthew 6:1-18) I often hid my talents under a basket, rather than let them shine, because I was afraid God would be displeased and I would lose my reward. When I did let them shine, I felt guilty.

               God has called us to praise Him for our own benefit. When we genuinely praise God, we can also praise other things with genuineness. When we recognize God as the author of all that is good and right and praiseworthy in the world, then responding in praise is the correct response. We can fully enter into and enjoy the experiences of life without fear or regret.

               God is the ultimate master artist, inventor, creator, designer, musician. When we praise the things He has created, we give Him glory. We can both praise the “performance” and celebrate the author of the play. Praise is a gift that God has given to us so that we might more fully experience the good gifts He has given to us. God deserves our praise because there is nothing greater than Him.

Psalms 103:2 (NIV)
Praise the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits--

 

FINISHING WELL

 1 Corinthians 9:27 (NIV)

No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.

               In my devotions I have been working my way through 1&2 Chronicles. One of the things that stood out to me as I came to the end of 2 Chronicles is how many kings of Judah started their reign well, following the Lord, but ended poorly.

               One example is King Joash. He became the king of Judah at the age of seven. He reigned for 40 years. For the first half of his reign, he was guided by Jehoiada the priest. Under the watchful eye of Jehoiada, Joash restored the Temple and genuine worship to God. But after Jehoiada died, Joash began listening to other voices. He turned away from the Lord and did evil in God’s sight.

               Paul must have been thinking about the history of the kings of Judah when he penned the words in 1 Corinthians 9.

1 Corinthians 9:24-27 (NIV)
Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.

               Paul knew all too well that it was possible to run a good race and stumble at the end. He challenged the Corinthians to keep their focus and to not give up the race. Paul set the example by the way he lived his life. He was not cocky or complacent. He was determined to run the race to the very end, to the best of his ability.

               One of the sad aspects of the church in America today is how many prominent Christian leaders have failed near the end of their race. Many of them had long, successful ministries. Many people were blessed by them and many came into the Kingdom through them. Yet, at some point they took their eyes off of the goal and failed to finish strong. Like Joash, they began listening to the wrong voices and the outcome was spiritual failure.

               I know that through Christ we can never fall out of God’s grace. But we can forfeit the prize and hinder the cause of Christ by our actions, if we are not careful. Satan is always on the lookout for new ways to trip us up. He knows where we are weak and vulnerable even better than we do. Nothing gives him more pleasure than to cause a believer to stumble and fall. Therefore, we need to always be on our guard. None of us are exempt from or immune to temptation. Daily we need to be aware of what is going on within us, not just what is going one around us. Often Satan uses external circumstances to blind us to his spiritual attacks. Peter reminds us that we must be vigilant at all times.

1 Peter 5:8 (NIV)
Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.

               Paul often used running a race as an illustration for the Christ life. As I look back over my life and my ministry, I realize that it has been a series of races embedded in one long spiritual marathon. I have run some of those races well and others not so well. Each race matters. I still have some races to run before me. My greatest desire is to run them in such a way that at the end I will not be disqualified for the prize.

Hebrews 12:1-3 (NIV)
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.