“You have put me in the lowest pit, in the darkest depths. Your wrath lies heavily upon me; you have overwhelmed me with all your waves… But I cry to you for help, O Lord; in the morning my prayer comes before you. Why, O Lord, do you reject me and hide your face from me?”
Psalm 88:6-7, 13-14
The author of Psalm 88 doesn’t complain about God, but he sure does complain to God. He abruptly stops his psalm on a note of resentment. No setup for a hopeful ending. No hand-is-quicker-than-the-eye move from moaning to praise. Not even a sniff of joy in the entire eighteen verses. God seems snide and cruel, smashing underfoot helpless humans as though they were cigarette butts. The words are ugly. Then again, so is life.
God is big enough to take on anger. He knows stuff happens. He said, “In this world you will have trouble.” He does not tiptoe around ugly things, embarrassed at wit’s end to explain our woes. He doesn’t cover up the guts of a person’s rage — He invited people like the one who wrote Psalm 88 to be His coauthors. In so doing, He invited frustrated, angry people to air their complaints.
Too often we choose the polite routine and repress our deep emotions toward God. But anger pushes the problem to the front burner. Strong emotions open the door to asking the really hard questions: Does life make sense? Is God good? Anger often reveals whether we are moving toward the Almighty, or away from Him.
Take your complaints to God. Like the psalmist, move toward Him, not away from Him. Don’t sow seeds of discord or incite rebellion among your friends against God, but allow your hurt to engage Him head-on. This makes anger a good kind of anger. It’s the point behind Ephesians 4:26, “In your anger do not sin.”
Lord, may my anger drive me into Your arms. Help me to point my anger, frustration and bewilderment Godward.
