Does God Want You to Get Mad at Him?

Earlier this week, I was watching a video on YouTube and the person who was speaking made a comment about how it was better to approach God with a broken heart then anger.

Although I do agree with that sentiment overall - after all, we are called to have gentle, kind and self-controlled spirits - I don’t agree with it entirely. In fact, I would go as far as to say, there are some times when God wants you to get mad at Him.

Let me explain.

Back in the winter of last year, I hit a bit of a wall in my journey with the Lord. It’s not that I had a crisis of faith or anything like that. But, having been in a wilderness season for a very LONG time and feeling like I had done everything that He had asked me to do and was still seeing absolutely no light at the end of the proverbial tunnel… I found myself just a little discouraged. (Can ya relate?)

I had done all the things I knew to do - I prayed all the prayers, rebuked all the devils, sang, worshiped, praised and declared and decreed until I was blue in the face. But, not only was my situation not changing, it seemed to be getting worse.

God kept giving me wonderful promises of things to come and to be fair, I did feel Him breaking a lot of old chains off of me and healing a lot of old wounds and false beliefs. So, it wasn’t like I felt totally stagnant. It was just that things seemed really… HARD. (Again, can ya relate?)

The funny thing is, I was used to things being hard. In fact, I was really used to it. I had been going through a pruning season for over two years by this point. So, I was actually used to things being difficult and having to “push through” time after time. But, what I hadn’t realized was that somewhere along the way, I had lost the good girl, everything is honkey-dorey demeanor. I just hadn’t acknowledged it.

So, one day, I was out and about, running errands and minding my own business, when I swore I heard the Lord tell me to “get mad.” I thought for sure there was no way that God would tell me to do something so disrespectful as to get angry with Him, so I dismissed it as a deceptive voice trying to get me in trouble and continued on. Except, the voice insisted again, “get mad.” And it sounded an awful lot like the Lord.

As I continued driving, the Holy Spirit elaborated and it wasn’t really much of a surprise when He told me that God wanted me to “get mad” because I had been holding back my feelings. That I wasn’t letting out how I really felt about everything.

I agreed. It was true.

But, I still felt weird.

So… I tried to get mad as best I could. And it was a miserable failure. Picture Pollyanna trying to have a tantrum. It just didn’t work. I barely raised my voice and I might’ve said I was “tired” of a couple things… but then immediately followed it up with something like “but, that’s okay…”

Apparently, it was impossible for me to share any truly negative emotions because it just felt wrong. After all, the Israelites complained and moaned while they were in the desert and look how well that turned out for them.

So, I kind of blew it off and figured oh well, I had given it my best. But, only a few days had passed, when the situation came up again. And this time, things went a little differently.

This time, He didn’t have to tell me to get mad. I just did. Really mad.

I don’t even remember what it was that pushed me over the edge (probably something money-related for the 4,325th time), but whatever it was, there was no room for it with everything else I was holding in and I popped. I was in my car on the way to an appointment and I said out loud, “Okay Lord, you want me to get mad? Here it is!!”

And then proceeded to go on for about 10 minutes straight about all of the things I was disappointed, frustrated, angry and otherwise disillusioned about. I reminded Him of all the things He had promised me, of all the things I had been doing and of all the things that were still wrong. And I made sure He knew how unhappy I was about all of it.

It felt weird.

But, I didn’t care. And the thing is, in that moment, I knew He wasn’t judging me or upset with me. He was just letting me get it all out.

Kind of like when your child has a meltdown. You don’t suddenly start loving them any less or punish them for the meltdown (usually). You just wait it out… let them do their thing… and then when they’re done, say “Are you ready to talk to me calmly now?”

And that’s exactly what it was like.

He just let me get it all out. And the thing is, I knew in my spirit that He wanted me to. That’s why He had told me to “get mad” a few days earlier.

It’s not that He wanted me to be angry with Him. But, He did want me to be real with Him.

Because He wants all of us to be real with Him. He doesn’t want you to approach Him with some fake, sunshiny exterior when inside you’re fuming mad or devastatingly sad. He wants you to come to Him with your genuine emotions. All of them.

Now, that doesn’t mean I should go cussing Him out every other day. But, generally speaking, that shouldn’t be the case anyway if you have a solid, intimate relationship with Him. Most of the time, you genuinely do want to come to Him in love, awe and gratitude.

But, just like any other relationship, there are days when you’ll be overrun with frustration, sadness, disillusionment or even anger. And that’s okay.

God doesn’t love us because we’re perfect (because we’re not). And He doesn’t expect us to be perfect before Him.

He wants us to trust Him enough to be real with Him. To lay it all out there - the good and the bad. And trust that He will help us handle all of it. For our good and His glory.

And that’s exactly what He did. That day and any other day that I’ve come to Him with a bone to pick or in body-racking sobs.

Be joyful, yes. Be grateful, yes. Approach Him with awe and a healthy fear of His sovereignty, yes.

But, don’t be afraid to be real with Him too.

He already knows all of your thoughts anyway before you even say them. So, why bother trying to hide them?

Remember, He loves you for you. Just as you are. On your Pollyanna days, your Oscar the Grouch days and all of the days in between.

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