Cutting
It is often said that music is an expression of the soul, and I believe that is true. I have sometimes heard music that I couldn’t identify with at all, wondering what others see in it. Then I realized that the music was expressing something in them that they didn’t otherwise know how to express. The music was reflecting the pain or anger that was in their souls. The problem is that it frequently begins by finding relief in such expression but then they begin to reflect more and more the negative aspects of that pain or anger as they listen more to the music that initially they saw as identifying. God also knew that we would need a place to find identification with the inward feelings that we could not express. He gave us three entire books of songs called the Psalms, Song of Solomon, and Lamentations. These books contain an expression of the full range of emotions that we will ever have, from extreme joy, to romance, to bitterness, anger, and pain. In Psalm 109, David even expresses to God that he wished that the man who hurt him would die, that his whole family would die, and that their house would be covered with manure, and many other things as well.
Did you know that God already knows what feelings are in your heart? You won’t shock Him and He won’t judge you for your feelings. God wants you to pour all your pain out to Him and find the cleansing that you desire. If you have trouble starting, then read through the song books of the Bible until you find a place that reflects back the pain or emotions that you have inside, use that as a starting point of identification to being the process of prayer, and just tell God all about how you have been wronged and how you feel. Pour it out and pour it out until it drains the reservoir of pain that has built up.
The second step in dealing with the emotional pain is to cut off the inlets that have been bringing it in. It is not possible to drain the reservoir as long as you are still allowing the pain to come in. To do this, you must turn the offender over to God in your heart. This is what David expresses in verses 19-21: “God shall hear, and afflict them, even he that abideth of old. Selah. Because they have no changes, therefore they fear not God. He hath put forth his hands against such as be at peace with him: he hath broken his covenant. The words of his mouth were smoother than butter, but war was in his heart: his words were softer than oil, yet were they drawn swords.” In verse 23 he says, “But thou, O God, shalt bring them down into the pit of destruction: bloody and deceitful men shall not live out half their days; but I will trust in thee.”
Turning them over to God in your heart means that you must take their offences to God and accept that only He can truly give justice to your offender. I know that it may seem as though they have gotten away with what they have done, but I promise you that the only way real justice will come to them is through God. God doesn’t always punish people immediately, sometimes He gives people grace to repent for what they have done, but if they do not repent He always gives justice for their sins.
This also does not mean that you should sit around and watch, waiting for their judgment. If you do this, you are still trapped by their offences. Instead God calls you to take the offence to Him and accept that He is able to cover it for you at the cross of Jesus Christ. This is the essence of forgiveness. The Bible says in Ephesians 4:31-32, “Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.”
