Living Life by Design

People who know me truly believer that I am in fact, Mr. Rogers incarnate. Friends and acquaintances who have known me 20 years plus have never, and I mean NEVER heard me utter a word of profanity or say an unkind word about anyone else. I’m often made fun of for this but I wear it as a badge of honor. Now, if somehow my thoughts were to be broadcasted on loudspeaker, I would most assuredly have to give the badge back…lol. 

I love Psalm 137. There is something very comforting about the raw anger that is expressed in this psalm. It is a reminder that you can be real and honest with God, and that you don’t need to censor your prayers. He can cope with even your darkest thoughts.

In this raw account, the people of God had lost their confidence in the presence of God. The psalmist is in exile, in Babylon, away from Jerusalem and the temple of God’s presence. The worst thing about the exile for God’s people was this sense of being away from God’s presence: ‘By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion’ (v.1).

Their violent response and desire for revenge – ‘treat them as they treated us’ (vv.8–9) – is a far cry from the New Testament command to love your enemies (see Matthew 5:44). But it is a cry within a lament of people tormented (Psalm 137:3), and desperate for God’s presence.

So, when you pray, don’t hold back. Tell God exactly what you’re feeling. It’s not like he’s never heard it before.

When was the last time you were truly honest with God?