{"id":417,"date":"2025-07-01T12:09:11","date_gmt":"2025-07-01T12:09:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/upliftingstar.com\/star991\/2026\/01\/28\/complain-to-god\/"},"modified":"2026-01-31T08:20:38","modified_gmt":"2026-01-31T08:20:38","slug":"complain-to-god","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/upliftingstar.com\/star991\/complain-to-god\/","title":{"rendered":"You Don&#8217;t Have To Hide Your Struggles From God, But There&#8217;s One Thing He Wants From You"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Recently, I came across <a href=\"https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=Psalm%2077&amp;version=NLT\">Psalm 77<\/a>. WOW!&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>First of all, thank You, God.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Secondly, WOW! (I know I covered that already, but it\u2019s worth repeating.)&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The first 9 verses are a big complaint-fest, and oddly, I\u2019m grateful for that.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We would never tolerate this in our current church culture. We\u2019d tell the person whatever the Christian equivalent is of \u201cshut up\u201d and then begin to pepper them with self-righteousness masking as encouragement. Honestly, as believers, I think we can be uncomfortable with each other\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/star991.com\/god-has-healing-power\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"168062\">pain<\/a>, so we like to rush it along.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I\u2019m so grateful God is NOT uncomfortable with my issues. I\u2019ve had quite a few recently: busyness, family issues, hormones (ladies, you get it). It can feel like a rollercoaster. And (even more) frankly, I\u2019ve wondered if God is sitting on the rollercoaster next to me or if He\u2019s at the station waiting for the train to get back so He can scold me for screaming my head off on the unpredictable ride.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If that last sentence made you want to say, \u201c\u2026but Sherri, remember\u2026,\u201d I totally understand. That\u2019s my evangelical inclination, too. I\u2019m just grateful that here in Psalm 77, God shows me that He\u2019s comfortable with our heartfelt issues. We don\u2019t have to downplay them. We don\u2019t have to sanitize them with Him. We may have to with each other, but not with Him. In just 9 verses, the psalmist goes through:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Anxiety&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Fear&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Doubt&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Despair&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Depression&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Distress&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Sleeplessness&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Groaning&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Weariness&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>That\u2019s a lot, and he doesn\u2019t sugarcoat any of it. It\u2019s visceral. You can feel the sweat dripping from his brow.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Then in verse 10, he does the one thing I believe God asks of us:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Think about <strong>HIM<\/strong>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Think about His history with us. His way with us. His past kindness with us. All God asks from us is to <strong>remember<\/strong>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He\u2019s okay with us feeling all the things because all the things are happening. It\u2019s true. It\u2019s real. But His faithfulness is real, too. I would dare say it\u2019s even more real. It\u2019s been proven. So after all of that, the psalmist creates, as it were, another comprehensive list\u2014a list of God\u2019s history of faithfulness:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Miracles&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Mighty deeds&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Power&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Greatness&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Redemption&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Salvation&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Deliverance&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Leading&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>A lot of the first list is based on the emotion of what is happening and also what <em>could<\/em> happen. The second list is what is for sure and what has never changed.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I\u2019m no theologian. What I can tell you is, in my own life, the key to joy and peace is allowing yourself to honestly recite and acknowledge the first list while only MEDITATING on the second. Soon\u2014not necessarily immediately, but soon\u2014the second list will eclipse the first\u2026 or, as a more modern psalmist put it:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Turn your eyes upon Jesus<\/em><br><em>Look full in His wonderful face<\/em><br><em>And the things of earth will grow strangely dim<\/em><br><em>In the light of His glory and grace<\/em>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I don\u2019t think we do ourselves any favors pretending like the hard things aren\u2019t hard. They are. I just believe God wants us also not to pretend like He isn\u2019t reliable.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Because, friends, He just is.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/star991.com\/djs\/brant-hansen\/\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/star991.com\/djs\/brant-hansen\/\">Sherri Lynn<br><\/a>Midday Show Host, STAR 99.1<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I\u2019m so grateful God is NOT uncomfortable with my issues.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":418,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[12,14,19],"class_list":["post-417","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-inspiration","tag-encouragement","tag-inspiration","tag-trust-god"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-13 16:33:03","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/upliftingstar.com\/star991\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/417","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/upliftingstar.com\/star991\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/upliftingstar.com\/star991\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/upliftingstar.com\/star991\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/26"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/upliftingstar.com\/star991\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=417"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/upliftingstar.com\/star991\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/417\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/upliftingstar.com\/star991\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/418"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/upliftingstar.com\/star991\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=417"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/upliftingstar.com\/star991\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=417"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/upliftingstar.com\/star991\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=417"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}