desert direction

“It is finished.” John 19:30

We live in a world where so much feels “undone” and incomplete. Even more, things are chaotic and unpredictable. As a result, we can internalize our environment and unconsciously believe that it reflects deepest reality. The result is a generalized existential angst in which we ask the questions: can any of this really mean anything? Does all the chaos have any meaning at all? Most often residing deeper than our awareness, this anxiety fuels a constant search for meaning through accomplishment, accumulation, and affection. And so, we flit around frantically …

Pastor Arthur Simon comments that: “Ours is a restless culture. Life has become excessively busy for a large portion of the population. Stress is almost built into our body clocks. I am not a fast driver, probably slower than most. But sometimes I find myself hurrying to get somewhere—switching lanes, passing traffic, going through yellow lights—when it occurs to me that the only thing putting pressure on me to rush is my own state of mind…. Our wants are constantly expanding, and our income usually lags behind. More hours to work, more things to do, and more places to go create pressure. Far from producing a sense of inner peace, this style of life nurtures a spiritual void.”

The next to last words Jesus utters on the cross are: “It is finished.” A simple word in the Greek text of John 19: tetelestai. The verb tense speaks of something that has been accomplished with results that are ongoing! What Jesus accomplished on the cross has effects that are in force and active and real today. And, what did He accomplish? Just the night before the crucifixion, Jesus sat in the Garden of Gethsemane and prayed, asking God the Father if there was another way. Faced with prospect of such suffering, He humbly asked one more time: “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.” (Luke 22:42) What was the task that Jesus had finished? In a word: redemption.

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. (Romans 3:23-25)

What this means for us is that “it is finished” – our search is over. There is meaning and grounding in the midst of all the chaos and uncertainty of the world. Jesus’ death answers the questions. The meaning of our existence is relationship with God and Jesus provided for our return. We can let go of our frantic pace and desires to fill the void. Our deep longing for purpose and substance and meaning has been met in Christ. Yet, how often do believers in Jesus still live out of that restlessness produced by anxiety rather than live out of the rest produced by knowing that “it is finished”?

In 1 John 4:18-19, we learn that: “there is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. We love because he first loved us.” The generalized anxiety that we feel seeks for meaning, and at deep places in us, we wonder if the chaos and uncertainty is punishment. We ask: did I do something wrong? How can I atone? The love and reconciliation that we have in Jesus meets those fears head on and takes away our shame.

At our core, we long to be clothed and covered, safe and secure but this world sends us on a wild goose chase. The hope of things being “finished” is expressed beautifully in the words of Jesus in Revelation 3:18 that He has “white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen.” The theme of being “clothed” is found in 2 Corinthians 5 as well:

For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling, if indeed by putting it on we may not be found naked. For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened—not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.

So, we have the Spirit to remind us and nurture within us a sense of calm and peace and love in the midst of the chaos. Today, take a few minutes throughout the day to rest in the reality that it is finished, that His love for you is deeper and more real than what you see around you. Experience the reality that the search is over as you pray this simple prayer:

Father, thank You for meeting my fear with your love. Jesus, thank You for suffering for me that I might be reconciled to God. Holy Spirit, clothe me with the knowledge that I am safe and secure no matter what goes on around me. Amen.

“I thirst.” John 19:28

As Jesus hung on the cross on Golgotha (an Aramaic word meaning “skull”), He suffered in every way imaginable: spiritually, emotionally, relationally, and physically. It was through His sufferings that we are healed (1 Peter 2:24) by being united in relationship with God. And, it is also through His sufferings that we learn how to engage and endure our own sufferings.

Everyone goes through suffering at some point in their lives and for many there exists an ongoing element of suffering throughout life. For some it is chronic pain or illness and for others a prolonged period of estrangement from loved ones. Some suffer the pain of exile from their homeland and others deal with poverty or joblessness.

In the simple words, “I thirst,” which Jesus uttered upon the cross, He left an example of how to suffer with grace and trust.

“For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God. For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps.” 1 Peter 2:20-21

The thirst He experienced evidenced that He was physically undone by the crucifixion. He lost so much water through the sweat and the tears and hours without food and drink that He became dehydrated. He lost so much blood that His body went into shock. Extreme thirst is a symptom of shock and dehydration. And, in all of this, He remained faithful.

Just after Jesus shared that He was thirsty, He was offered a sponge of sour wine. He then lowered His head and gave up His spirit. Earlier in the crucifixion scene (Matt 27:34), Jesus was offered the same wine and He refused it. It was common for the soldiers to give the person being crucified a wine mixture that would help deaden the pain. Jesus refused to run from any part of the suffering and taking the drugged wine would have been an escape, a way to numb the pain.

Every day, we are given opportunities to deaden our pain, to run from suffering. However, suffering and sacrificing is a part of what it means to love and share and give. As we experience sufferings in this life, we find that God’s presence and love in our lives is sufficient:

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” 2 Corinthians 12:9-10

To experience the weakness that leads to strength in the Lord, we have to be fully present in our sufferings and hardships. God leads us through sufferings so that some things can die and other things can be birthed in our lives. Is it possible that we don’t know God’s love and presence more fully in this life because we are more focused on managing our pain than seeking God in the midst of our pain? Macrina Wiederkehr put it this way: “Every time I say no to the birthing and dying that is set before me at the table of daily life, I seem to hear the echo of Jesus’ words to the woman at the well, ‘If you but knew the gift of God … ’”

In what ways are you tempted to run from suffering? How might you meet God where you are today rather than seeking to escape? Writer Dorothee Soelle shares the beauty of finding God “in the void”:

We don’t have the choice of avoiding suffering and going around all these deaths. The only choice we have is between the absurd cross of meaninglessness and the cross of Christ, the death we accept apathetically as a natural end and the death we suffer as a passion…. If in the night of despair the soul does not cease loving “in the void,” then the object of its love can rightly be called “God.”

Meet Him in the emptiness, in the thirst … it is there that He becomes real and His love becomes all that you need. When we numb the pain, we also numb our ability to feel and experience His love.

Prayer for loving “in the void”:

Father, I desire to experience your grace as sufficient rather than numbing my pain. Give me the strength to see how I run from suffering so that I might stop and therefore trust you in the void. I rejoice in how You are shaping Me into Your image for your glory. Amen.

“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Matthew 27:46

From all eternity, God has existed in community – that glorious reality called Trinity. God exists in a relationship between Father, Son, and Spirit in such a way that there are three and yet God is one. The concept defies math and transcends human, finite comprehension but teaches us so much about the nature of reality.

First, God is relational at His core. Second, “God is love” (1 John 4:8). Love is the essence of His character in such a way that He is not just “loving” or one who engages in the act of love but He is love. Love is His identity that permeates His being. Finally, this love is the motivation for the actions that flow from the Trinity. The Trinity created the universe as an act of love. Because of the eternal, infinite love between Father, Son, and Spirit, they decided to create humanity in order to share the glory of that love. Love is like that: it demands to be shared.

And so, as God created, He made the first humans in such a way that they enjoyed unbroken, unhindered access to Himself. Those first humans, described in the early chapters of the Bible, only knew loving trust of their creator. They walked with Him and talked with Him. Then, sin entered the picture, and sin is simply doing life apart from God. From then on, humanity struggled with isolation and loneliness and confusion which led to fear and hate and self-protective strategies for doing life.

Jesus entered human history in order to bring redemption to the broken relationship between Creator and His creation. As He went to the cross, the mission was glorious:

He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. (1 Peter 2:24)

Something that God the Son (Jesus) had never known was the anguish and suffering of separation from God the Father and God the Spirit. In taking our “sin” (the results of doing life on our own) on Himself, He experienced a breach in the eternal relationship of love. And so, He cried out on the cross: “My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me?” It was a statement of deep despair. The physical sufferings of the cross were brutal but nothing compared to the torment of feeling isolated and alone.

He voluntarily, in love, took upon Himself the horror of being alone and its ultimate consequences so that we would never have to live isolated and alone ever again. This is the healing that His wounds produced. We are invited to receive the forgiveness of sins as a gracious, loving gift and then move back into enjoying unhindered access to Him (Hebrews 10:19-22). This is why God can say “I will never leave you or forsake you.”

How will you enjoy the gift of unhindered access to Him today? Are you feeling alone or isolated? Remember that the Trinity invites us to do life with them. We may feel forsaken but there is a deeper reality we can trust. Even more, an experience of His love is ours to enjoy through prayer. Franciscan writer Ilia Delio put it this way: “Through prayer, I am drawn into the dance of the Trinity.” It is participating in this dance that the remnants of our wounds are healed and transformed as we learn to be loved and to love in return.

Pray a simple prayer today (throughout the day):
Father, I am so grateful that I am no longer separated from You because Jesus endured forsakenness for me. Give me the courage to trust our relationship when I feel otherwise. Speak to my heart and tell me what’s on Your heart. What are you doing? What do you want me to notice? Amen.

This is a prayer that allows us to dance with the Trinity and experience the love we were created to enjoy. “For your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.” (2 Cor 8:9)

“Truly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.” Luke 23:43

Not surprisingly, grace once again flowed from the heart of Jesus to those around Him while on the cross. Situated between two criminals, Jesus is mocked as the first criminal shouts “Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us!” The irony of the question and statement was that Jesus was indeed providing salvation by the very act of being on the cross. But, the blindness of the one man didn’t lead Jesus to call down fire from heaven or to hurl insults in return.

The second criminal rebukes the first as He says, “Do you not fear God?” He shares that they have done something to deserve their cross but Jesus had done nothing wrong. Next, that second criminal utters a request that is at the core of what we all desire. He asks:

“Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”

In this simple statement, he is acknowledging the Jesus is indeed the Messiah, the promised One – “the desire of the nations” (Haggai 2:7). Whether we have fully come to the place of identifying it or not, we all desire to be with Jesus. We all desire to do life with God. It is the desire that makes us human and a desire that we often deny.

John Ortberg writes: “What always drives us, at the soul level, is that if I believe I cannot trust God for the satisfaction of my soul, then I will take my soul’s satisfaction into my own hands. I may not acknowledge that even to myself.” For the second thief, He was at the end of his rope. He no longer had any ability to take care of His own needs and in that moment of vulnerability he reached out to Jesus.

And, Jesus did not say, “It’s too late” or “You should have thought about that before you committed the crime.” Instead, He showed infinite mercy and grace as He gently says:

“Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

Do you believe that being with Jesus, doing life with Him, is the satisfaction of your soul? When you reach out in simple faith, not able to bring anything to the table, He responds with “Yes, you can be with Me.” And, the hope of heaven is the hope of getting to be with Him.

Often, we settle for less than our heart’s true desire. Are you willing to be boldly vulnerable and ask God for what you really desire? To do life with Him … to be with Him.

Take a few minutes today and pray:

Father, I acknowledge that I am not only at the end of my rope but apart from You, I have no rope. I often take my soul’s satisfaction into my own hands but my prayer today is that I could be with You and do life with You. May I experience the “paradise” of living life in Your presence today as I look forward to eternity with You in heaven because of the salvation that Jesus provided on the cross. Amen.

“Father, forgive them for they do not know what they do.” Luke 23:34

As Jesus of Nazareth hung from the cross, He looked down and offered forgiveness to those who had tortured Him, mocked Him, and finally nailed Him to the pieces of wood. In an act of extreme grace, Jesus looked past their ignorance and even past their desire to be forgiven.

Romans 5:5 shares that “God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” Just a few verses later, we’re told how: “but God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” His love for us was extended while we were sinners – ignorant of our need and committed to our own agendas. When we reached out and received the gift of forgiveness that Jesus offers, we were still ignorant of the totality of our need because it is infinite but He still graciously gave.

Frequently, as followers of Christ, we find ourselves not experiencing the love of God that has been poured into our hearts. David Seamands, in his book on forgiveness, writes: “Many years ago I was driven to the conclusion that the two major causes of most emotional problems among … Christians are these: the failure to understand, receive, and live out God’s unconditional grace and forgiveness; and the failure to give out that unconditional love, forgiveness, and grace to other people … we read, we hear, we believe in a good theology of grace. But that’s not the way we live. The good news of the gospel of grace has not penetrated the level of our emotions.”

How do we ensure that grace has penetrated to the level of our emotions? How do we actively live in His grace and love and forgiveness? Simone Weil writes: “Grace fills empty spaces, but it can only enter where there is a void to receive it, and it is grace itself which makes this void.”

There was an initial “void” or experience of emptiness that lead to that initial reception of His love. How is that void growing in you today? Is there more and more need in your life for His love? Often, as we go on in our life with Jesus, the perception is that maturity means we have it more together and more figured out. The opposite would seem to be true as the experience of His love in our depths requires a greater experience of our need for Him. Seeing the “void” or empty spaces grow requires letting go of things that we use to fill the void on our own. Our lack of experiencing His love and grace is predicated on self-love and self-protection.

Spend a few minutes asking the Father what you are using to fill the void on your own and then ask Him for the strength to let go of those things so that you might experience His love that has been poured out in your heart.

Through the ages, appealing to the “voice of God” has been used to justify everything from the silly to the profane. In addition, simply saying “God told me” tends to be a conversation stopper … if God tells someone something, how can you argue with that?

The idea that God speaks to people is as old as humanity itself but claims have been routinely met with skepticism from both believers and non-believers alike. From one who doesn’t believe in the existence of God, rejection of the concept makes sense. However, for those who believe, why would there be skepticism? The reasons range from over-reaction to abusive and sensationalistic claims of hearing from God to sincere theological belief that while God may have spoken in the past He does not do so today.

At the heart of the Gospel (good news) of Jesus is the reality that the experiential divide between God and man has been bridged. There is a real, loving experience of God promised to those who have come into a relationship with Jesus. Colossians 1:27 describes this truth as “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” The incredible hope is that the God of the universe spiritually dwells within us. This suggests the relational reality of presence, real presence! With presence comes the joy of communication. In John 10:27, Jesus said, “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.” So, how exactly does this work? How do we listen to His voice?

When we listen to Jesus, it is the Holy Spirit who communicates the words of Jesus to us. In Romans 8:14-16, the Apostle Paul shares that: “all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.” We are led by the Spirit as He “bears witness” with our spirit about our identity as beloved children of God. Bearing witness is real communication. It doesn’t promise an audible voice but some sort of communication that is understandable. Perhaps, the best way to understand the communication is that of a gentle, discernible nudging in our spirit. 1 Kings 19 describes God speaking to Elijah as the sound of a gentle whisper.

Two questions certainly emerge from the idea that he speaks in a gentle nudges in our spirits. First, why doesn’t He speak loudly, in undeniable ways? What makes the most sense is that God never wants to force anything on us but desires a real relationship where we are free to choose. Yelling or screaming generally leads to forced submission or rebellion. God desires our hearts. He wants us – not forced submission – so He speaks quietly. The second questions revolves around how we know if it is actually the “voice” of God and not simply what we want to hear? Certainly, discernment is needed and required. 1 John 4:1 encourages us: “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.”

How do we develop the needed discernment? At the heart of our discernment is the text of Scripture. We can test and affirm what we are “hearing” by the Word of God. And we can trust that God does speak to our hearts because He abides with us. (1 John 3:24) Our abiding with Him is experienced as we obey His commands. In this mutual abiding (or, indwelling), we communicate with Him.

So, at the heart of our “listening” must be the Biblical text. The Spirit leads us in our application of God’s written word and also leads us in the experience of our relationship with God. Like any real relationship, current and relevant communication is needed. Over time, that communication may come through silent presence like an “old married couple” sitting on the porch enjoying one another without a word needing to be spoken.

Robert Mulholland suggests a beautiful way that we can interact with Scripture that engenders this kind of relationship:

“The how of the role of scripture in spiritual formation is not so much a body of information, a technique, a method, a model, as it is a mode of being in relationship with God that we bring to the scripture … I suggest that your top priority be to listen for God. Seek to allow your attention and focus to be on listening for what God is saying to you as you read … Listen for God to speak to you in and through, around and within, over and behind and out front of everything that you read. Keep asking yourself, ‘What is God seeking to say to me in all of this?’ By adopting this posture toward the text you will begin the process of reversing the learning mode that establishes you as the controlling power who seeks to master a body of information. Instead, you will begin to allow the text to become an instrument of God’s grace in your life. You will begin to open yourself to the possibility of God’s setting the agenda for your life through the text. Not only will this exercise begin to transform your approach to reading (and prepare you for the role of scripture in spiritual formation), it will also begin to transform your whole mode of being in relationship with God in a way that will enhance genuine spiritual formation.” (Shaped by the Word)

As we live in a posture of listening throughout our days, what kinds of things does the Spirit tend to say to us? At the core of what we hear is that we are His beloved. (Romans 8:14-16) This is the gentle consistent whisper that we receive from the Spirit. In addition, Gordon Smith suggests the following categories in his book, The Voice of Jesus:

• assurance of God’s love
• conviction of sin
• illumination of our mind regarding Scripture
• guidance in times of choice

He desires for us to live in a real relationship of love and the heart of what He says regards the nature of our relationship, barriers to that relationship, and how we can live with attentiveness to that relationship moment by moment. He loves us deeply and only specific communication can catapult us into the transformation that love provides. The beautiful truths of Scriptures can be deeply trusted but it is His gentle whispers that allow us to know.

How do we best listen? Anthony deMello offers:

“There are few things that help so much for conversing with Christ as silence. The silence I speak of is, obviously, the inner silence of the heart without which the voice of Christ will simply not be heard. This inner silence is very hard to achieve for most of us: close your eyes for a moment and observe what is going on within you. The chances are you will submerged in a sea of thoughts that you are powerless to stop – talk, talk, talk (for that is what thinking generally is, me talking to myself) – noise, noise, noise: my own inner voice competing with the remembered voices and images of others, all clamoring for my attention. What chances does the subtle voice of God stand in all of this din and bustle? … Your tolerance of silence is a fairly good indicator of your spiritual (and even intellectual and emotional) depth.” (Contact with God)

Don’t neglect the gift of real communication with the God of the universe! Live with a listening posture and the fruit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, and self-control. And more than that, the fruit is relationship with God Himself – who is the true desire of our hearts.

The theme of “coming home” is incredibly prominent in the arts … whether song or film or literature. The concept of “home” resonates deeply within the soul of all of us. As a young man living in the Middle East in the ‘80s, I’ll never forget being told that I was not in my homeland and therefore needed to act appropriately as a foreigner. It struck me deeply that home is a place where you feel at rest, where you feel loved, where you feel you can be the “true you.” We’ve all been hardwired to desire home.

At this time of year, the idea of home can elicit feelings of joy and/or feelings of disappointment that rival no other joys/pains in our lives. Why? Because there is something very primal about home.

In the beginning, the first humans lived at “home” with God in a garden of delight and trust and love. There was love, joy, peace, patience, and a general tranquility to their lives. The enemy of God entered the picture and led Adam and Eve to doubt the goodness of their home. As a result, they left that “home” of trust and love with God as their Father. Indeed, the concept of “home” and family comes from the God of the Universe.

“For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named.” (Ephesians 3:14-15)

As people made in God’s image, our concept of home is rooted in the very person of God. No matter who we are or where we come from, three things are true about us. First, we all desire to be at home. We want to be fully alive and at rest in our own skin. Second, we’ve experienced, and may even be experiencing in profound ways, that we are not at home. Third, our sense of “home” is most truly and fully found in the God. So, the theme of returning home resonates deeply.

At its core, Christmas is indeed about coming home but not in the ways we often consider. It is about “coming home” to the reality that He is our home – our deepest, truest desire in this life. Jesus is the One for whom we’ve been waiting! Jesus is the fulfillment of all our desires. No earthly family can truly fulfill our desires. No inheritance or financial windfall can satisfy our deep longings for security. No activity can finally provide peace to every square inch of our being. All other desires are shadows of our one true desire … consider the following poem:

Now I can see

that it was You.

It was always You,

behind every song

and every story

that ever captured

my heart.

It was You.

Every relationship,

a tutor.

Every desire,

a shadow

of my true desire, You.

It was always You.

The One whom my soul loves.

Christmas is an invitation to stop … to stop running … to stop looking … to stop striving after an earthly home and believe that you are already home. We can trust this and believe because Jesus, the One we celebrate at Christmas, made His home among us. He said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life, no one comes to the Father but through me.” (John 14:6) So, our return “home” is found in Christ.

Thomas Merton commented that “in prayer, we discover what we already have. You start where you are and you deepen what you already have, and you realize that you are already there. We already have everything, but we don’t know it and we don’t experience it. Everything has been given to us in Christ. All we need is to experience what we already possess.”

A recipe for a great Christmas (really, a great life) might simply be this kind of prayer:

• Stop looking around you for “home.”
• Remind yourself in quiet prayer that you have everything in Christ.
• Rest in the reality that you have Him, the true desire of your heart.
• Enjoy living from a place of fullness rather than lack.

May this truly be a merry Christmas as you stop and consider that everything you’ve ever wanted is in Christ. Take a few moments right now and stop, remind, rest, and enjoy. Repeat moment by moment.

“In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” John 1:4-5

Anger is a very real, extremely common emotional response to the stuff of life. And, as a human race, we are not skilled at working through our anger to a place of peace or reconciliation. Most often, we end up doing things or saying things from a place of anger that we wish we could do over. Or, perhaps, we feel justified because we were wronged, but probably inwardly wish we hadn’t exploded or imploded or whatever the case may be. We all get hurt in this life and if we’re paying attention, we get angry. We might have learned how to stuff our anger or put on a smiling face in the midst of it, but it’s there none the less. In fact, if someone claims to never get angry, I wonder if they have a pulse. Is there any hope for dealing with our anger – our hurt – our violent thoughts?

In the Old Testament Scriptures, there are prayers that offer hope but they have typically been either misunderstood or ignored. In fact, recently, a friend emailed and asked me about a verse in one of these Old Testament prayers that troubled her:

“Blessed shall he be who takes your little ones and dashes them against the rock!” Psalm 137:9

This is one of those verses in the Bible that legitimately bothers people.  The question is most often: how can a loving God condone the idea of killing children? Let me quickly say that there is more going on in this verse than meets the eye. So, what’s going on?

Psalm 137 is an example of what is called an Imprecatory Psalm. An imprecation is a harsh word or words that are said when someone is angry and hurting. The idea of the Imprecatory Psalms is that the Lord asks us to come to Him with the anger and hurts and deep frustrations of our hearts. Verse 9 of Psalm 137 is not a good, right, or holy thought but it is the real thought of the psalmist. The people of Israel were captives, slaves, in Babylon and they were hurting and angry. It could be argued that they were justified in their anger. Right? They were slaves! They were so angry that they wanted the children of their captors to die and die violently. We can all relate to times when we were so angry that we just wanted another to die, or at least go away, never to be seen again. God never affirms those thoughts as right or correct but invites His people to come and share everything on their hearts. Rather than simply “parrot” the right answers – God wants us to trust Him with our hearts which begins with honesty and pouring out our hearts. The hope in all of this and what I’ve seen over and over is that people’s hearts are shaped and transformed as they give all of themselves to God and not “stuff” the anger and/or violent thoughts.

If we look at the rest of Psalm 137, we notice that there is an expression of several things:

• Tears, or hurt (verses 1-2)
• Statement of the circumstances surrounding the hurt (verses 3-4)
• Lamentation of what seems like lost hope (verses 5-6)
• Violent, murderous thoughts (verses 7-9)

Here are several things that we can glean from the existence of this kind of prayer:

1. In times of anger, don’t worry about thinking the “right” things but give your actual thoughts and feelings and responses to God. Pour out your heart to him. He desires to hold your anger and hurt. The Imprecatory Psalms are not expressions of “good theology” but they are expressions of the kind of honesty that can lead to a transformed heart.
2. What is modeled in Psalm 137 is the beauty of honesty. Don’t ignore the feelings and emotions of your present experience. And notice that the psalm doesn’t end with a resolution but leaves things hanging. It is God who resolves and holds the hurts, not us. We may have to come back again and again over a period of time.
3. When we dismiss our emotions and anger, we are really just stuffing them under the surface of our hearts. The result is that we stop going below the surface of our lives and don’t live from the depths of who we are. And, those emotions will always come out and hurt others. We don’t live our lives based on what we want to believe but based on what is in our hearts.
4. We find Him in the midst of whatever is going on in our lives, not in some other imaginary world that we’d like to live in.

How do you deal with anger? Do you find yourself exploding, imploding, stuffing, or denying your anger? In Ephesians 4, we are encouraged to “be angry and do not sin.” There is an invitation (be angry) and a potential result (do not sin). All of us have experienced being angry and consequently sinning. Perhaps, the “do not sin” part comes as we experience our anger in the context of our relationship with God, i.e., in prayer. Sins are always the result of acting, thinking, and desiring independent of our relationship with God. Love, joy, peace, and patience spring forth from our dependence on the Spirit. When we pray an “imprecatory psalm”, we are depending on God through prayer.

So, today, as you feel anger arise in your heart (it could be small or big), stop and pray. Pray all that you are feeling to God. Give it to Him. Give Him your heart. And then, quietly ask Him to give you His heart. Repeat as necessary … (and, it will be necessary!)