Pressed But Not Crushed

Own It

Admit that you are disappointed. Nothing good ever comes from shoving your feelings under the rug. When we own our feelings we can then address them in healthy ways.

Psalms are full of people expressing their feelings.

Psalm 42:5 NIV

Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.

Take it to God

He can handle it!

God welcomes you along with all of your emotions - anger, discouragement, sadness, and disappointment.

Psalm 22:1–2 NIV

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from my cries of anguish? My God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer, by night, but I find no rest.

Psalm 10:1 NIV

Why, Lord, do you stand far off? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?

We see Hannah crying out to God for a child in bitterness and anguish (1 Sam 1:10), Jonah angry with God’s response to the Ninevites (Jonah 4:1-3), Elijah bemoaning being the last of the prophets (when in fact hundreds were alive and hidden in a cave)(1 Kings 19:14), and Jesus in anguish in the Garden of Gethsemane (Luke 22:41-44).

Jonah 4:1–3 NIV

But to Jonah this seemed very wrong, and he became angry. He prayed to the Lord, “Isn’t this what I said, Lord, when I was still at home? That is what I tried to forestall by fleeing to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. Now, Lord, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live.”

1 Samuel 1:10 NIV

In her deep anguish Hannah prayed to the Lord, weeping bitterly.

Luke 22:41–44 NIV

He withdrew about a stone’s throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him. And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.

Remember to ask for what you need!

Help, comfort, wisdom, motivation, etc.

John 14:13 NIV

And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.

1 John 5:15 NIV

And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.

Get Perspective

Take account of the good things in your life

James 1:17 NIV

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.

Psalm 100:4 NIV

Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.

Eternal Focus - fix our eyes on Jesus!

2 Corinthians 4:16–18 NIV

Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

Romans 5:3–5 NRSV

And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.