Can I say that to God?!?!

Psalm 25:17, 22-23, 44:23-26

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Can I say that? Can I say that to God? Sometimes, especially if you grew up in the church and grew up a Christian, you may feel like, I know I owe God all of my respect and honor, he’s holy and he’s good. And so when we have hard feelings or hard questions about God, when we question God’s goodness or feel like maybe he’s abandoning us, we maybe feel like those are not things that we’re supposed to say. Good Christians don’t say that, we think.

But I want to tell you today that you actually can, in fact, and should be honest with God about what you think and what you feel. And I know you might be thinking, so why should I just believe you that that I can do that? I mean, it doesn’t feel right, but I’m not. I’m not asking you to believe me. I’m asking you to look at what God says in His word. Think about the Psalms. Here’s one example in Psalm 35 and verse 17, it says,

Lord, how long will you look on?
Restore my life from their devastating attacks,
my precious life from these young lions. (Psalm 35:17)

And then go ahead to verse 22. It says,

Lord, you have seen all this.
Do not be silent.
Lord, do not be far from me. (Psalm 35:22)

And then check out verse 23.

Wake up and rise up to my defense! (Psalm 35:23)

That Psalm is calling God to wake up and do something. Psalm 44 says some similar things in verse 23.

Get up! Why do you sleep, O Lord? Wake up!
Do not reject us forever.
Why do you hide your face?
Why do you forget our misery and our oppression?
For our souls bow down to the dust.
Our bellies cling to the earth.
Stand up! Help us!
Redeem us because of your mercy. (Psalm 44:23-26)

The Psalms are pretty honest. The psalm writers are very honest about when they feel like God is distant. They call on God to wake up. They’re honest with God about what they’re feeling. And if God’s word, God’s holy inspired word, can say such strong statements of God, this is how I’m feeling, then we can too. And don’t get me wrong, I’m not telling you to just chew God out and just come up with reasons to, you know, I’m not telling you to try to be mean to God. I’m just trying to encourage you to be honest. God’s word encourages us, invites us to be honest with God, with how we’re thinking and how we’re feeling.

I mean, if you think about it, it makes sense. He already knows. He knows what’s on your mind. He knows what’s on your heart. It’s no secret. So be honest. Give it to him. You might think, but what if I say the wrong thing? What if I say something sinful? We never want to take sin lightly. But we don’t have to have this relationship with God where we are just always afraid that what if I say the wrong thing? What if I mess up? We don’t have a God who’s going to say, you know what? You said the wrong thing today. So therefore I’m done with you. That’s not how our relationship with God works.

The truth is, each day we think and we say things that we shouldn’t. But Jesus died for that. God chose us Jesus came to lay down his life for us, knowing full well that there would be things that go through our minds and go through our hearts that are not what God would want us to think. The things that God would not want us to say. But he paid for them, and he loves us anyway. The relationship we have with him is so secure. The relationship you have with him is so secure because Jesus, he finished it all on the cross. And so we can be honest, not afraid that I might say the wrong thing. Give it to God. And if something comes out of your mouth and you realize, oh, I shouldn’t have said that, then lay it before the cross. Jesus died for that.

So be honest. Talk to God. He invites you to do so. If something comes out that’s not right, you’re forgiven. But know that he wants to hear you because he is a God who loves you, and he is for you.