Talking to God

By Pastor Teresa Smith

Question

Why should I talk to God when it feels like God isn't helping me?

Answer

A lot of times we can get caught up in thinking, "God let this awful thing happen to me, so why should I talk to God about this?" God knows everything so God already knows what I think and feel about this. I like to ask people this question: Imagine you have a precious item in the house, and you're home with only one other person. You leave your home and leave the other person there. When you come home, that precious item is broken. What do you want the person to do? A) say nothing; B) tell a lie; or C) tell you what happened?

Almost everyone says they want the person to tell them what happened. I always ask them, "Why? You already know what happened. He or she broke it." The reason is that if you choose to stop talking to this person, you lose all hope of the relationship. You have to keep talking.

If you're angry with God, tell God about it. There's something about the telling, the sharing, and the praying that transforms us. The psalmists give us great examples of telling God how they feel. They cry out: "Where are you, God? Help me. I'm here, and I don't see you anywhere." They tell God exactly what they would like to do to the perpetrator. The psalms set the example for us. For at least 5000 years, people have suffered. Reading the psalms teaches us we are not alone. We can tell God exactly what we think, and God will listen.

Then we learn that the psalms were written to be sung in the worship service. The person or people's story was sung out loud, and everyone present stood with those who had suffered, validating their experience. No one stopped the psalmist in the middle of worship and said, "It didn't happen that way." Or, "You are lying!" Or, "How could you say that?!"

Today, we are blessed to have dozens of websites and chat rooms, support groups like Al anon and Survivors of Suicide.com as well as the National Alliance of Mental Illness, where people can see they are not alone.

If we find we are in a place where we can't talk to God, we can start with a fellow Christian, pastor, or survivor. He or she can help us move to a place where we can begin our relationship anew with Jesus the Christ and, in doing so, know what Victory in Jesus is all about.