Recently, after speaking at a church, I had a young lady come up to me after the service crying. As a little girl she had experienced the unimaginable: Her dad killed her mom. In front of her. Leaving her and her siblings to be raised by a grandparent.
She came up and asked:
“How can I let go of this anger that I have toward God? How can I learn to trust Him?”
Now, a majority of us have maybe never experienced something to this degree. And yet, bitterness and resentment toward God is something that so many of us can relate to.
Whether it’s:
finding out you have cancer,
going through a divorce,
being hurt by someone,
losing a loved one,
having a rough childhood,
experiencing a miscarriage,
losing a job,
or being single when you’d rather be in a relationship.
It’s easy to let feelings of bitterness, anger and resentment toward God grow inside of us, slowly impacting our relationship with Him. Often people will completely walk away from God, the church and anything connected with Him after going through a trial.
Back to the question though:
“How can I let go of this anger that I have toward God? How can I learn to trust Him?”
#1 Tell God all the things you’re feeling. Unfiltered. Everything.
Whether we’re hurt by a friend or we feel like God has let us down, bottling up our feelings only makes the situation worse. God can handle our questions and raw feelings! Whatever’s inside of us…say it to God! Don’t hesitate to shout either! We can do that? In the Bible, King David did. That’s enough for me. Let God know your hurt, your pain, your doubt, your frustration. God wants to hear what’s within us. He wants us to trust Him with every part of our lives. Don’t hold it in. There’s something powerful that happens when we pour our hearts out before God. In pouring out our hearts, we begin to trust Him more and more. The more we begin to trust Him, the more our hearts begin to (supernaturally) heal from the inside out.
#2 Ask God to show you His faithfulness.
At times it’s easy to see all the places where it appears that God has let us down, while completely forgetting about the countless times He has clearly provided. There are so many things in my life that I take for granted. So many situations where God was clearly at work that I overlooked. How can we learn to trust God? By looking at His previous track record in our lives.
God, please show me all the times you’ve taken care of me.
Lord, make your faithfulness in my life clear.
#3 Believe God can use all things for good.
There are SO MANY things in life I don’t understand. Right now, I could list off tons of people who have experienced things I can’t wrap my head around. But in the same breath, I’m more certain than ever that God is good. He is loving. And even when it doesn’t seem like it, He’s in control.
What if our place of pain becomes our greatest place of passion?
What if the things we’ve walked through can be used to help others walk through similar things?
What if God is shaping and molding us into the people He created us to be?
Letting go of anger toward God may not happen all at once. But each day, hand over your anger to Him. Thankfully we have a patient, kind-hearted God who can carry everything we bring to Him. Even our anger.
This article originally appeared here.
