Don’t Give Up: Tell God Exactly How You Feel

By Rick Warren — May 22, 2018

“I can’t be quiet! I am angry and bitter. I have to speak” (Job 7:11 GNT).

God can handle your emotions — he gave them to you, after all! He can handle your anger, doubt, fear, questions, grief, and even your complaints. Be honest; tell it to God. Get it off your shoulders. Spill your guts! Tell God exactly how you feel: “God, I hurt!” This is exactly what Job did.

Job was brutally honest with God: “I can’t be quiet! I am angry and bitter. I have to speak” (Job 7:11 GNT). He continued to unload in the verses that follow: “Why do you keep me under guard? Do you think I am a sea monster? I lie down and try to rest; I look for relief from my pain. But you — you terrify me with dreams; you send me visions and nightmares until I would rather be strangled than live in this miserable body. I give up; I am tired of living. Leave me alone. My life makes no sense. Why are people so important to you? Why pay attention to what they do? You inspect them every morning and test them every minute. Won’t you look away long enough for me to swallow my spit? Are you harmed by my sin, you jailer?” (Job 7:12-20 GNT).

If you were God, how would you react to that? Maybe get angry? Is that what God did? No! Because God understood Job. God understands you, too, and he understands your hurt. God isn’t surprised when you say, “God, I don’t like this. This stinks. It hurts!” Who do you think created those emotions? Who do you think gave you the capacity to get angry and express those feelings? God did. God is not surprised by your emotional state.

God let Job get it off his chest. It was a catharsis, a kind of cleansing so that Job could get clean and be healed.

The right response to unexplained tragedy is not “grin and bear it” or pious platitudes but honestly telling God your struggle. Lamentations 2:19 says, “Cry out in the night . . . Pour out your heart like water in prayer to the Lord” (NCV).

Job questioned God’s actions, but he never stopped trusting God. Did you know that trusting God with your feelings is an act of worship? “Job stood up, tore his robe in grief, and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground and worshiped” (Job 1:20 GW).

Go ahead. Express all your feelings. Release your frustrations. God can handle it!

PLAY today’s audio teaching from Pastor Rick >>

Talk About It

• How does it feel when you tell a close friend exactly how you feel?
• When you find yourself questioning God’s actions, do you continue to trust God, or does that become a struggle?
• What difference is there, if any, between releasing your frustrations to your best friend and releasing them to God? What is the effect?

Give hope, prayer, and encouragement below. Post a comment & talk about it.

I have spoken with many farmers in the county and they all seem to have been able to plant a considerable amount of acres of corn and beans over the past couple of weeks. Even with the rain that we received over the weekend they were not discourages – many said that it came at just the right time. With more planting in the near future then the wait begins to see what happens in the fall.

Wow – only 18 more days until 2018 Farm City Days – the committee has worked very hard to make this an even better event than last year. We have many sponsors who have made it possible to make as much of this event free as possible. I would like to take the time to thank them for their donations.

State Bank of Whittington, Tabor Pest Services, Steve Vercellino’s Rend Lake Marina, Gesell’s Pump Sales and Service, Sheriff Don Jones, Pirate Pete’s, Week in Benton, COUNTRY Financial, Wm Nobbe John Deere, People’s National Bank, William Bryce Levanti – Attorney, Royal Brass and Hose, Tino’s on the Tee, Dunagan’s Collision Center, City of Benton, Midwest Threadwork Designs, TGW Custom Graphics and Dana Communications.

Also, Fast Truck & Trailer, Extreme Exigency/The Armed Barber, Blue Ridge Tractor, YourFranklinCounty.com, Hobbs Service Company, K & M Liquor, Hart Cantrell – Attorneys, Big O Farm & Garden, Consolidated Grain and Barge, Ranger Nation Auto, Evan Owens Family, Jack Russel Fish Co., Leffler Funeral Home, Buntin Bros. Farms, LaFiesta, F B McAfoos, MidwestCarShowOnline.com and Farm Credit Services.

With the Action Request for the issues on the Farm Bill last week we have actually found that there’s a silver lining, Farm Bureau was pleased that Republicans and Democrats came together in huge numbers yesterday to defeat harmful amendments that would have ripped gaping holes in the farm bill safety net.  Those amendment votes are now on the record.  The proposal to phase out federal support for both crop insurance and commodity programs over the next decade was overwhelmingly defeated.   380 ‘no’ votes were cast against the McClintock amendment. Franklin County alone had 123 responses to this Action Request – a huge number especially considering that we only had one day to do it.

Farm Bureau was also very pleased that Rep. LaHood’s amendment “one and done” ARC-PLC sign up bill was adopted on a voice vote.   Streamlining sign up for those who have no changes in their farming operation remains an IFB priority.

The House bill does some other good things.  It simplifies conservation programs and rebalances CRP rental rates.  It creates a nationwide FMD vaccine bank and fine tunes the ARC program by relying on RMA instead of NASS data.

I would not be surprised if we have another Action Request on this in the future – stay tuned for more on these and other issues.

The Illinois Farm Bureau anticipates that the Senate farm bill process will soon get underway.  We’re working to get our priorities included in the Senate bill and will become increasingly engaged in that process as it moves forward.  Our goal remains getting a farm bill passed that reflects Farm Bureau priorities through both the House and Senate before the current farm bill expires September 30.

With summer drawing close just want to remind our members that we have many discounts – along with local savings at Holiday World and Six Flags – if you are a Farm Bureau member you can log onto the Ability App and see all of the discounts available to you. The saving are tremendous. If you are not a Farm Bureau member then join today and discover how much you can save. Just call the office at 435-3616 for more information.

Remember we are farmers working together. If we can help let us know.