One of the
best ways to get in touch with our feelings is by praying through the Psalms. There
we discover that someone has already put into words things that we feel in our
hearts. We begin to wonder at the thought that these are words recorded in the
Scriptures, and that they are the writings of men who were moved by God to express
themselves in such shameless honesty before him. One day we conclude that we
are invited to do the same.
This morning
this one verse ministered to me: “O Lord, all my longing is before you; my sighing is not
hidden from you.”[1] Part of the reason this verse helped me today is that it has helped
me before. It has become like a familiar friend that has encouraged me to be
honest with myself. This morning we needed a visit.
What
this verse tells us is that every one of our longings is out in the open before
God. Although we are invited to pour out our hearts to God with words as varied
as those we find in the Psalms, it is also true that we are encouraged to rest
in the knowledge that all our longings are already before the Lord. The NIV
translates it, “All my longings lie open
before you”.
Do
you feel the comfort in such a thought? Even the best and most loyal of friends
cannot hear all our longings. No other person can listen as long as we feel, or
sympathize as deep as our sighs express. But, when relating to our Father who
is in heaven, our longings lie open before him. The sighing that rises up from
unknown places of our hearts is not hidden from him.
In
this, there is the wisdom and knowledge of God that sifts through our longings.
We do not need to know how much a longing is sarky or spiritual; God knows. All
our thoughts and feelings lie open before him. He can sift through what is of
the world, the flesh, and the devil, and what is our new-hearted desire for the
righteousness of the kingdom of heaven.
Somewhere
along my journey through life, I stopped keeping things inside. God hears
everything I know and feel. What I do not have time to pray, and sing, and share,
he knows as clearly as if every word and thought and feeling was graffitied
right in front of him in the brightest, most fluorescent of colors.
Further
along the journey I stopped worrying about what God thought about my longings.
I knew what he thought about me. I am his beloved child.[2] No messed-up longings, or immature expressions, or poorly-mannered
sighings would ever change that.
Part
of the marvel in all of this, what I present to encourage you in your worship
of God as your Father, is that God is the safest person to see our longings. I
have had plenty of people build up my trust enough for me to share my longings
and sighings and heartaches and childhood wounds, only to watch them turn their
backs and never speak to me again.
And
then I look into the heart of the eternal God, and discover he has time for me,
he has interest in me, he has care for me, he has love for me, he has joy in
me, and I never have to be afraid that my longings would cause him to turn away
from me. He will change my heart, and change my mind, and change my beliefs and
feelings, but he will not change his heart for me. My longings are safe with
him.
And
so it is with every child of God who approaches the One True God in the name of
his Beloved Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
From
my heart,
Monte
© 2013 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8 ~ in2freedom@gmail.com
Unless otherwise noted,
Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English
Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good
News Publishers.)
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