Do you ever feel like you want to rant? I suspect God would like to hear it.

David let it rip. He did not hold back his hurt, anger, frustration, and fear. Yes, the David of the Hebrew Bible. King David. He processed his anger, fear, frustrations, WITH God.

And I think God loved it.

I don’t know whether David yelled his rants or not, but I am thankful that he wrote them down, and that they were preserved for us. 

As the youngest of brothers, David was often ignored or put down by his family.  Yet, he developed a heart for God and trust in God’s strength as he spent countless hours tending sheep and fighting predators.  After God chose him to be king of Israel, he faced all kinds of opposition, fleeing for his life on numerous occasions. 

He must have started the habit of talking to God when out with the sheep, as he continued as an adult to write. Check out part of Psalm 55:

My thoughts trouble me and I am distraught at the voice of the enemy, at the stares of the wicked; for they bring down suffering upon me and revile me in their anger.  My heart is in anguish within me; the terrors of death assail me.  Fear and trembling have beset me; sorrow has overwhelmed me. 

But I call to God, and the LORD saves me.  Evening, morning, and noon I cry out in distress, and he hears my voice. 

My companion attacks his friends…his speech is smooth as butter, yet war is in his heart. 

But as for me, I trust in you. (verses 2-5,16-17,21-23)

Once he processed his thoughts and feelings with God, he most often reminded himself that God knew, God saw, and that God could handle it all—the emotions, the people, the future. 

And he wasn’t the only one.  The book of Psalms is like reading people’s journal entries. It preserves so many examples of honest writings of people who wrote about how God helped them in times of trouble but also of times when people didn’t know where God seemed to go.  They write of times of confusion and anger, written for us to be reminded that God is still there and in control even when evil seems to be getting the upper hand. 

Have you ever written out your angers, frustrations, fears? Have you written them to God, with God? Try using Evernote on your phone. Or any journal will do. 

My friend, Sheeba Cherian, likes to say, “Emotions are like children. You can’t let them drive and you can’t put them in the trunk.” The best thing to do is to take them out, look at them, process them with the God of the universe who loves you.  I think healthy healing starts there. 

A great way to be encouraged each day is to take a peek into the journal entries and songs kept for us in the book of Psalms.  A friend told me to break up the book into 31 readings, and I have listed that for you below.  Go ahead and write the numbers in your Bible at the start of each section: that way you can pull out your Bible and read starting at the number that corresponds to the day of the month.  You don’t have to read a lot—just read until something jumps out at you and then think on that for a while.

I think you will find there is much comfort and encouragement to be seen as you eavesdrop on these writings to God and about God. God is much bigger than we sometimes think he is. 

Read the rants and encouragements in the Psalms.  Also write your own. 

Taking out a pen,

Ellen