Venting

My youngest was the last of my children living at home until his marriage nearly two years ago. Jacob and I became venting partners during those last few years after his sister married and left home. Prior to his brain surgeries for his epilepsy, he didn’t drive and I was his Uber to work and home until shortly after his 22nd birthday. The drive to work consisted of a give and take dialogue that amounted to a daily pep talk before arriving at work followed by a gripe session after each shift ended.

Even as a young child, he could easily drift into a downward spiral of woe-is-me thinking when left to his own devices. Rather than chide him for his litany of complaints, I learned to hear him out and encourage him to think of something he had enjoyed or learned in his day. Initially I worried that he had actually said all the things he unloaded on me and in the tone he’d used with me, but I quickly learned that he just needed to get these things off his chest in order to move on. In the moment, he had acted appropriately and with respect. This fact was a huge weight off my shoulders and allowed me to better respond to his flood of emotion.

Since Jesus taught his followers to address God as Father, I can’t help imagining how my own rants sounds to Him. At the end of an arduous day or in the wake of an incredibly emotional moment, I’ve often gone outside late at night to unload my cares aloud on my Creator. I’ve also written out my stream of consciousness in an attempt to sort through my feelings and frustrations many times and I can tell you categorically, I end these sessions in praise, once again aware of the vastness of God.

“Pour out all your worries and stress upon him and leave them there, for he always tenderly cares for you.”

1 Peter 5:7 TPT

https://bible.com/bible/1849/1pe.5.7.TPT

I’ve been reading nightly through the book of Job and I’ve prayed many times through the Psalms, enough to know that both books contain gut-level honest-to-God dialogue. Both Job and David feel ill-treated and wonder aloud repeatedly why. We are shown the heavenly events leading to Job’s suffering and a study of Old Testament history reveals much of David’s story. Both men give vent to their emotions directly to God in a time prior to Jesus’s permission to address God intimately. Both men seek God’s face and both are answered by God. Like Moses with whom “the Lord would speak face to face as a man speaks to a friend,” (Exodus 33:11) each experienced God’s presence through His Spirit.

Jesus spoke to His followers of a time when the Spirit of Truth would come to all who believe in Him. He told them prior to his crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension, “But in fact, it is best for you that I go away, because if I don’t, the Advocate won’t come. If I do go away, then I will send him to you. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own but will tell you what he has heard. He will tell you about the future. He will bring me glory by telling you whatever he receives from me.”

John 16:7, 13-14 NLT

https://bible.com/bible/116/jhn.16.7-14.NLT

“But when the Father sends the Advocate as my representative—that is, the Holy Spirit—he will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I have told you.”

John 14:26 NLT

https://bible.com/bible/116/jhn.14.26.NLT

Immediately before His ascension, Luke records that Jesus told His disciples to wait in Jerusalem for the promised gift. “Once when he was eating with them, he commanded them, “Do not leave Jerusalem until the Father sends you the gift he promised, as I told you before. John baptized with water, but in just a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.””

Acts of the Apostles 1:4-5 NLT

https://bible.com/bible/116/act.1.5.NLT

“While we live in these earthly bodies, we groan and sigh, but it’s not that we want to die and get rid of these bodies that clothe us. Rather, we want to put on our new bodies so that these dying bodies will be swallowed up by life. God himself has prepared us for this, and as a guarantee he has given us his Holy Spirit.”

2 Corinthians 5:4-5 NLT

https://bible.com/bible/116/2co.5.4-5.NLT

“I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.””

John 16:33 NLT

https://bible.com/bible/116/jhn.16.33.NLT

“Because of Christ and our faith in him, we can now come boldly and confidently into God’s presence.”

Ephesians 3:12 NLT

https://bible.com/bible/116/eph.3.12.NLT

Take your cares to God. He neither slumbers nor sleeps (Psalm 121:4) He keeps a confidence. He does not repeat what He has heard and He is the only One with power to work together for good (Romans 8:28) what is entrusted to His care.

Your Kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. (Matthew 6:10)