Pouring out your complaint

I cry out to the LORD with my voice;

With my voice to the LORD I make my supplication.

I pour out my complaint before Him;

I declare before Him my trouble.

Psalm 142:1, 2

David composed the verses of Psalm 142 while hiding out in a cave from king Saul's relentless pursuit to kill him. He was dealing with lots of emotional pain and upheaval, being forced to go on the run and into hiding without lots of time to 'prepare' for it or even to say proper goodbyes to his family. He was heartbroken over being pursued by someone he had not wronged in either actions or thoughts, and had looked up to as God's anointed king, and his best friend's father. His integrity of heart, his love for God and his people, made these circumstances more baffling I'm sure. How could he explain all that was happening to him? Well, he could not explain it or make sense of it. And in this crucible of affliction, his heart made its honest complaint to God.

There are other biblical records of honest complaints made before God, a sample of which would include Hannah, Amos and Job. However, when we think of bringing complaints before God many of us are a bit scared. We remember - as we should - the Israelites which Moses was commissioned by God to deliver from Egypt. Their forty years of wandering in the wilderness was squarely chalked up to their faithless complaining against God. They had "evil hearts of unbelief" in doubting that He would do all He had promised, despite all the sheer supernatural power He had displayed before them. Many teachers have stopped at warning us that complaining against God is bad. Yes, it is bad and always will be. But we also need to know that humbly and honestly bringing our complaints to God is good. It can link much needed consolation from God with the power of God to also act on our behalf.

Pouring out our complaints before our God who cares for us is a natural outflow of having a relationship with the Maker of the heavens and the earth. This is what Jesus Christ has made available to us. We are privileged to have communion with God along the path of this life and the reward of His even closer companionship in His presence for eternity. The difficulty that often arises is that we don't know how to make sense of what we're going through when it seems that God is the One who has allowed or brought the trial by which we are afflicted. The question becomes, 'Can I complain to God about Himself and what I perceive to be His troublesome dealings with me?' 'What complaint can I pour out when I've obeyed Him and trouble comes anyway?'

Moses had also been there. In Exodus 5, he had gone to Pharaoh with the charge that God had given him to convey: "Let My people go..." Instead of letting them go right away, Pharaoh only increased their hard labor in response to Moses' bold message. As the people were victimized in this way their lives became much worse and they blamed Moses. Moses knew God's power. God had revealed His purpose to bring the people into the land promised to the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Moses and Aaron had obeyed God's command. But things got worse.

So Moses returned to the LORD and said, “Lord, why have You brought trouble on this people? Why is it You have sent me? For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in Your name, he has done evil to this people; neither have You delivered Your people at all.”

Exodus 5:22-23

God responded to Moses with an awesome promise of His Presence and a sure deliverance. He spoke of His grander purposes to make these people His own and be their God. But perhaps He did not give an 'answer' that we would would have hoped for. He did not explain His reasoning or why things had gotten worse. God tends to do this. He does not unravel all the details of His dealings many times. He let Job and his friends have a seemingly endless dialogue before He responded. But just as Job was humbled when God spoke, I am sure that if God responded to the complaints we make we would also be left afraid, awed and humbled. So, what is the lesson for us?

Pour out your complaint before God. Pour it out with tears. Pour it out with humility. Pour it out with reverence. Pour it out knowing that your ways and thoughts are far beneath His own. Pour it out knowing that He is good, faithful, compassionate, merciful, just, righteous, powerful and holy. Pour out your complaint to Him, but then you do well to use your next breath to tell Him that you commit to continue to obey, submit to and trust Him. 

"‘Now see that I, even I, am He,

And there is no God besides Me; 

I kill and I make alive; 

I wound and I heal; 

Nor is there any who can deliver from My hand."

Deuteronomy 32:39

Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him.

Job 13:15a

Yes, He can be trusted even when it doesn't make sense, when it hurts and our complaint is great. Germaine Copeland says, "It is important that we approach God with integrity and in an attitude of humility. But because we fear making a negative confession, we sometimes cross the line of honesty into the line of denial and delusion. Let's be honest. God already knows what we are feeling. He can handle our anger, complaints, and disappointments. He understands us. He is aware of our human frailties (Ps. 103:14) and can be touched with the feelings of our infirmities (Heb 4:15)."

A bruised reed He will not break, And smoking flax He will not quench.

Isaiah 42:3

But Zion said, “The LORD has forsaken me, 

And my Lord has forgotten me.” 

Can a woman forget her nursing child, 

And not have compassion on the son of her womb? 

Yet I will not forget you.
See, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands; 

Your walls are continually before Me.

Isaiah 49:14-16

This is God's heart towards His people. 

Seek to know the character and faithfulness of God increasingly. Study, recall and meditate on His word in which you will be shown His ways. Pursue Him, submit to Him, continue to trust Him. You will find something greater than the answers to your questions and more satisfying than a mere discussion of the circumstances of your complaint. You will find His consolation. You will receive His help. You will know Him more.