Trust in Him at all times, O people; Pour out your heart before Him; God is a refuge for us. (Psalm 62:8 NASB)
Many years ago this verse jumped off the page at me as I was reading my Bible. You know what I mean ~ I’m sure you’ve had the same experience. You just know when God is talking to you.
Then the Lord spoke to me in my mind.
“If you don’t pour out your heart to Me, you’ll never trust Me.”
I knew immediately and instinctively that this was the truth, even though I didn’t know why this should be the case.
Pouring out our hearts to God means being completely honest with Him. But if I am going to be completely honest with you, then I must admit that this does not always come easily to me. After all, if we are all going to be honest, we will admit that at times there have been some issues that we have considered off limits with God.
I remember as a young Christian going to my spiritual director, Calvin Cook, a most wonderful man of God and an enormous blessing to me.
I can’t remember what we were discussing, but I do vividly remember his suddenly saying to me, “Well, you see, He’s the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.”
This did not initially seem to have anything to do with what we were talking about, a not uncommon experience with Calvin!
But I immediately had a picture of myself in my mind walking up to Jesus in my best Sunday suit with my hands behind my back, hiding all my sin there.
Then I had a second picture of myself walking up to Jesus with my hands open before Him, holding out my sin to Him.
With one swift movement He took it away.
Calvin’s words came alive.
What enables us to be honest? If we believe we are still under the Law, we cannot afford to be honest, for as Roy Hession has vividly said, we will be in for a thrashing if we are. We will be like the Pharisees, respectable, perhaps, on the outside, but full of corruption on the inside ~ white-washed tombs.
But under the New Covenant we can be truthful. We can walk up to Jesus with our sin openly before us for Him to take away.
But pouring out our heart is not only about being open with our sin. It’s about being open with our feelings, our doubts, our misgivings, even our angers. It means giving up on trying to impress God with our so-called ability to cope.
After all, our very act of pouring out our hearts to Him is an act of trust in itself, showing that we know that no matter what we reveal, He will never reject us.
Everyone whom my Father gives me will come to me. I will never turn away anyone who comes to me….
(John 6:37 GNB)