Life Lesson #1: Pour Out Your Heart To God

Asaph, the writer of this psalm, illustrated the first principle by pouring out his heart. Even godly people struggle with doubts and confusion when God's truth and their experience don't match. Life doesn't always make sense. At times, God's truth (God is good) and our experience (life stinks) don't mesh.

Asaph was one of three directors of King David's choir and a key Old Testament worship leader. Inspired by the Holy Spirit, he wrote a number of psalms we still read today. When God's truth and his life experience didn't mesh, this mature man of God poured out his heart to the Lord. His experience is preserved for us in Psalm 73.

Job did exactly the same thing. The most righteous man on earth lost his possessions, his children, and his health. He said, "God, I am angry! I don't understand what is happening or why it is happening!" He poured out his heart as he wrestled with the conflict between God's goodness and sovereignty and the tragic loss he experienced. What I love about this story is God never gets angry with him for honestly sharing his frustration and anger. God can handle our accusations, our overwhelming fear, and our blazing anger. We must remain reverent, but we are free to pour out our hearts to God.

God wants us to bring our anger, hurts, and doubts to Him. When we do, He enables us to reach the point Job did of being able to acknowledge that the interplay of God's goodness and His sovereignty is a mystery. We can't always make logical sense of the tough things we go through. But we can know the One who is in charge of it all and tell Him honestly how we feel.

In fact, God calls us to argue our case before Him. He so longs for a relationship with us that He invites us to tell Him anything and everything we're thinking and feeling. In all of my life I'd never been that angry with God, and that's when He met me like never before. To my amazement, He met me with compassion.

Life Lesson #2: Carefully Consider Your Choices

One of the most important decisions we will ever make is how we respond to life's raw deals. Few things are as difficult to deal with emotionally and spiritually as injustice. And when we're victims of injustice, we're greatly tempted to walk away from our faith. Asaph was angry, but he realized his actions might weaken other people's faith in the Lord. It's a fact of life that we never do anything in isolation. Our actions always affect the network of people around us.

It's so easy to act irrationally when we are mad and hurting. Some of the dumbest things we may ever do will be because of anger and bitterness when someone has wronged us. Reeling from injustice, we say and do things we wish we hadn't. So I implore you, as you emotionally relive a raw deal, get before God and carefully consider the implications of how your response will affect those around you.

If you are still affected by old wounds, God's Word to you today is that it is never too late to find healing for the pain a raw deal has caused. We deal with injustice in one way or another, and that results in outbursts of anger or silent resolution to distance yourself from God and other people, both options have their impact on you as well as on the people in your life.