Think all prayers should be lofty? Think prayers should be just praise and thanksgiving? Think your prayers should only contain positive thoughts? Think again.<\/p>\n
A complaint can be a prayer. Take a look at the Psalms. There are 150 of them in the Bible and they are full of every sort of whining, kvetching, envying, self-justifying imaginable.<\/p>\n
This should be welcome news to you. It is to me. I was just reading Psalm 73 about envying the rich and proud who seem to have it all and never make any pretence to believe in God. I knew the sentiments precisely.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve been there.<\/p>\n
The psalms are models for prayer and a perfect reminder that God hears us all the time, not just when we\u2019re happy, not just when we\u2019re saintly and holy, but when we\u2019re angry and peevish.<\/p>\n
I once met a man, a minister in fact, who didn\u2019t pray for a whole year because he was so angry at God because of his daughter\u2019s chronic illness.<\/p>\n
It was a friend who set him right. \u201cIf you\u2019re angry with me, I\u2019d want you to tell me,\u201d the friend said. \u201cThe same is true of God.\u201d<\/p>\n
That good man started talking to God again, but it wasn\u2019t all sweetness and light. It was anger and complaint. It wasn\u2019t pretty but it was honest and that was what was important.<\/p>\n
Be honest in prayer. That\u2019s what counts the most. I do believe that God can help us when we\u2019re angry or lonely or sad or envious or small-minded. But how can God know if we don\u2019t say anything, if we hold it all inside?<\/p>\n
Here are three Bible verses to get you inspired. If you\u2019ve got any complaints, give them to God.<\/p>\n
1. \u201cI cry out loud for help from the Lord. I beg out loud for mercy from the Lord\u2026No one pays attention to me. There\u2019s no escape for me. No one cares about my life.\u201d (Psalm 142:1,4)<\/p>\n
2. \u201cDoes it seem good to you that you oppress me, that you reject the work of your hands and cause the purpose of sinners to shine?\u201d(Job 10:3)<\/p>\n
3. \u201cListen to me when I complain, God!\u201d (Psalm 64:1)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Think all prayers should be lofty? Think prayers should be just praise and thanksgiving? Think your prayers should only contain positive thoughts? Think again. A complaint can be a prayer. Take a look at the Psalms. There are 150 of them in the Bible and they are full of every sort of whining, kvetching, envying, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":127,"featured_media":30917,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[324],"tags":[30,78],"ppma_author":[476],"class_list":["post-24558","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-inspirational-prayers","tag-prayer","tag-stress"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n