David's Example

David’s Example

I was going to paste in all of Psalm 7, but it’s a little long, so I’ll let you read it elsewhere.

I love that God included the Psalms in His collection of the words He wanted us to have. The book as a whole is such a great model for us of how to communicate with God on an emotional level. They give us permission, encouragement even, to bring all of our emotions to God-the good, the bad, and the ugly.

In this particular Psalm, David is asking--shouting, more accurately--for God to rise up and fight for him against enemies that slandered and sought to destroy him.

While I don’t recall praying for God to deliver me specifically from slander, I have many times begged him to fight for me or someone else for deliverance from evil in other forms: illness, affliction, addiction, lies.

I have said this before, and I’m saying it again: I am a firm believer that our God can handle our big emotions--even and especially our ugly ones. Scream it out, cry it out, cuss it out. He is a big God who created us with the capacity to feel deeply, and he can handle whatever we throw at Him. Our feelings do not shock Him.

But don’t stop there. A pattern I’ve noticed with many of David’s psalms is that, after the venting, the crying out, the anger, the sadness, or the anguish...there’s praise. There’s “You are good, Lord, and I praise You and trust You.” Sure enough, Psalm 7 ends with “I will thank the Lord for his righteousness; I will sing about the name of the Lord Most High.”

David didn’t have any answers at the end of this psalm. But that didn’t stop him from being willing to lay it all at his Lord’s feet, and it didn’t stop him from choosing to praise God anyway.

I don’t have a great closing to this, but the next time all the crap hits the fan, I pray we follow David’s lead: don’t be afraid to bring all that messy, messed up mess to God, and then lift your heart in praise. He can handle the mess, and He is worthy of the praise.

-Connie