Pour It Out

Where do you pour out what you are struggling with? Who do you run to when you need to vent about a problem? Is it your friends, your family, your social media?

Your friends and family may give you temporary peace in the midst of your battle, but it is only a matter of time until you are consumed by the fire again. Opening up on a social media platform may feel good to voice your struggles, but the backlash and negativity that you will receive will only make the baggage heavier.

We’re fighting all these battles and venting them out to the people around us with hopes that we will have victory when in reality we are just digging ourselves a deeper hole. When we pour out to humans, we fill up with worldly ideas that never should have been taken in anyway. Those worldly ideas turn into worldly drama and before we know it we are drowning in a sea of lies that can never do anything for us.

But when we pour out to God, we are filled with His love and grace and mercy and He gives us peace and the strength to take victory over our battles. The only safe place to pour out our complaints is to God. He is the Creator of our hearts and He knows what is going on in our lives even if we like to pretend we can hide it from Him. And the less we confide in Him, the more we confide in the world. If we don’t pour out our complaints to the Father, then it will spill over elsewhere.

You may say that it is hard to tell God about your problems. You are not alone, I struggle with this too. While it may seem hard to complain to God, it is not that different than complaining to a friend. When you pray, think about it like a conversation with a friend. Pray out loud. You can’t pray inside your mind if the battle you are fighting is in your head. There are too many distractions in your mind because you can think about too many things at one time. When you pray out loud, it limits the wandering of your mind because you can only say one thing at a time.

Sometimes it is hard to feel God’s presence in your life to talk to him, but it is completely okay to say “God, I don’t feel you, but I need you.” In Psalm 142, David teaches us how to pray when we feel overwhelmed in the midst of a trial.

I cry aloud to the Lord;

   I lift up my voice to the Lord for mercy.

I pour out before him my complaint;

   before him I tell my trouble.

When my spirit grows faint within me,

   it is you who watch over my way.

In the path where I walk

   people have hidden a snare for me.

Look and see, there is no one at my right hand;

   no one is concerned for me.

I have no refuge;

   no one cares for my life.

I cry to you, Lord;

   I say, “You are my refuge,

   my portion in the land of the living.”

Listen to my cry,

   for I am in desperate need;

rescue me from those who pursue me,

   for they are too strong for me.

Set me free from my prison,

   that I may praise your name.

Then the righteous will gather about me

   because of your goodness to me.

(Psalm 142:1-7 NIV)

David says that he is in desperate need of God, he pours out his complaints to God, and he prays out loud. These are three key things that we learn from his prayer in Psalm 142. It is okay to be weak, to struggle, and to ask God for strength because some of the best expressions of your relationship with God will be born, not when you are crowned in victory, but when you are hiding in despair.