Psalm 77 models for us exceptional honesty in prayer. It shows us that God cares more about our openness with him than that we get all of our theology right when we talk with him. Oh, to be sure, orthodoxy matters a great deal. But sometimes our efforts to say all the right things in prayer compromise our genuineness. The Psalms in general, and Psalm 77 in particular, encourage us to pray with “no holds barred.” We don’t have to be afraid of asking God tough questions or even of challenging his goodness. What God wants from us is not all the right words, but us…our full, true selves. God wants relationship, not with some whitewashed image of ourselves, but with us.
When we pray honestly, holding nothing back, we enter into a deeper and truer relationship with the living God. In the context of this relationship, we will discover, again and again, that God has not forgotten to be gracious. Yes, sometimes his grace seems strangely hidden. But we who know God through Christ can always be sure that nothing in all creation can separate us from God’s love and grace.
from Mark Roberts, Laity Lodge.
