Is It OK to Have a Vent Session with God?
By Jessica Brodie
Before I grew up and birthed kids who somehow felt compelled to wake up at the crack of dawn, I used to have these amazing late-night vent sessions with a close girlfriend. I’d call her or she’d call me, and we’d talk until the wee hours about dating woes or family issues. We’d keep each other’s secrets and support each other always.
Now I do that with my husband, and him with me. It’s wonderful to know I have someone in my proverbial corner, a safe person who won’t let me down.
But for a long time, I didn’t think it was OK to have that same sort of vent session with God. I knew God was with me and loved me, but I felt like I “shouldn’t” have a gripe-fest with the Lord of All Creation. It felt disrespectful and weird. Then again, I also thought God only used words like “thy” and “thou” and had a booming James Earl Jones-style voice.
However, now I know that not only am I permitted to take all my problems—both huge and petty—to God Almighty, but that He wants me to do this as a way of drawing closer to Him.
Many of us have heard about the Bible’s King David, ruler of Israel, mighty warrior, beloved by God, indeed known as a “man after God’s own heart” (1 Samuel 13:14). More than 60 chapters in the Bible are dedicated to David, a man who sought God time and again in personal sin and in victory.
What strikes me as most profound about David is the fact that he had a practice of taking all his worries, his drama, his angst, his fears, and his deep soul-cries to the source: God. After all, God is the almighty, all-powerful creator of the universe. He made us and knows each of us personally.
So when trouble befell him, what did David do? He had a vent session with the One who could do something about it if He chose to.
When life’s stresses threaten to flatten me, that’s exactly what I try to do now: Go to God with my troubles. Tell God all about it. Have a vent session with my Lord, King, and Savior. Name the unnamable.
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There is such power in confessing the depths of our heart to God! Not only does naming the problem undermine the power it has over us, but by bringing it to God and laying it at the foot of the cross, we are stepping out in faith and asking Him to take control.
Psalm 145:18-19 reminds us, “The Lord is near to all who call on Him, to all who call on Him in truth. He fulfills the desires of those who fear Him; He hears their cry and saves them.”
Psalm 91:1 says, “Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.”
And in Psalm 55:22, “Cast your cares on the Lord and He will sustain you; He will never let the righteous be shaken.”
Those same sentiments are peppered through the New Testament, too. James 1:5 urges, “If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.” And 1 Peter 5:6-7 says, “Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that He may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you.”
Venting to others accomplishes nothing but a temporary feel-good. But venting to God is a powerful way to draw closer to Him and know that everything really will be OK.
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