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Last Sunday I talked with you about our biblical permission (mandate, actually!) to be real with God. I hope it stretched you. It may have even been uncomfortable for some. (If you missed it, you can catch it HERE).

But did you know that 'talking it out' authentically with God can actually do damage and be destructive? Well, only if we have the seating arrangement wrong. 

Before I explain, let me remind of you of what Psalm 142.2 says: "I pour out my complaint before God; before Him I tell my trouble." It is not only good, but biblical for you to vent with God; to talk out the troubled and real thoughts and feelings from deep inside. But there is a way in which authenticity with God can go from panacea to poison. 

But Pastor Mike, I thought you said being authentic with God was good for our relationship with God? I did. I thought you said it can actually help to build faith? Yes, it can. I thought you said it's actually healthy for our souls and emotions? It's all true, except if we have the seating arrangement is wrong. 

All of the biblical guidance on authenticity with God assumes that the lamenter/venter/complainer/rager/contemplative-journaler/expresser-of-true-thoughts-questions-and-feelings maintains observation of God as God - seated on the universal throne, AND the throne of their life. 

The moment any one of us changes the seating arrangement and --following the dominant idolatry of the day-- puts the Autonomous-Self on the throne, authenticity will only reap wreckage. The moment we believe we are our own Ultimate Authority (which is sadly far easier and more common for us Christians to fall into), we have sipped poison. We have swapped seats with Jesus and now treat Him as peer or pupil. When this happens, wounds do not heal, souls shrivel, laments become entitlements, a complaint no longer offers release  it instead disfigures as person into a complainer, and doubts no longer lead to discovery but are given permission to morph into unbelief. Distance with God doesn't feel as uncomfortable as it used to, and eventually the nemesis of our faith -indifference- walks in offering company as we wander along. You can see how damage and destruction are not far off.

You need Jesus in your life.
Not as associate or assistant.
You need Him on the throne of your life. 
Without this, your Psalm 22's will not turn into Psalm 23's. 
Get the seating right. 

May your laments have a Lord, may your doubts behold divinity, and may the release of what is real and raging have reverence. 

Talk it out with God today. 

I'll see you on Sunday, when we unpack the last and most combustible of Thanks, Talk, Agree! 

Pastor Mike