An Encouraging Word: "Pour Out Your Heart"

“Trust in Him at all times, you people; pour out your hearts to Him, for God is our refuge.”  (Psalm 62:8)

Oh, that we would put this pouring into practice!

This verse specifically refers to the pouring out of one’s tears and complaints.  How often do we find ourselves pouring out our tears and complaints to all BUT Him.  The truth is, we may find that once we pour our heart out to Him, we don’t even need to pour it out to others.  

Imagine what would happen if we FIRST took all that caused our tears and complaints and poured it out to the Lord.  Another word for “pouring” is “spilling” or “spewing.”  I can think of a number of times when I have either “spewed” my complaints on to someone else or been the recipient of someone else’s “spewing.”  Imagine the pain, regret, and disappointment that would be spared if we first took those tears (and words) to Him!  

Spurgeon described it as an “unloading” of our hearts at Jesus’ feet.  What a mistake it is to “unload” my heart anywhere else until I have first unloaded it before Him.  Who else knows my frame and weakness, as He does?  (Psalm 103:14) Who else holds the words of eternal life, as He does? (John 6:68)  Who else offers the compassion and mercies needed in times of my greatest sorrow, as He does?  (2 Corinthians 1:3)  Who else gently convicts and exposes my faults while restoring my soul, as He does?  (Psalm 23:3)  Who else, truly who else, should I lay my heart before, pouring out my soul, unloading my cares, or spilling out my tears and complaints? 

Jesus taught that out of the overflow of the mouth, the heart speaks.  (Luke 6:45)  We can gauge how much we pour out to Him (or don’t pour out to Him) by what we feel necessary to pour out to others.  

What an example Hannah is of this, as found in 1 Samuel 1.  We read, “Because the Lord had closed Hannah’s womb, her rival (Peninnah) kept provoking her in order to irritate her.  This went on year after year.” (verses 6-7)  How we have our own Peninnahs, don’t we?  Let’s learn from Hannah’s tears, sorrow, complaints, and bitterness, as she exemplifies pouring her heart out to Him, knowing that with Him, all is safe: “In her deep anguish Hannah prayed to the Lord, weeping bitterly.” (verse 10).  Truly, He is our refuge, the One to whom it is safe to pour out our hearts.

“Ye people, pour out your heart before him. Ye to whom his love is revealed, reveal yourselves to him. His heart is set on you, lay bare your hearts to him. Turn the vessel of your soul upside down in his secret presence, and let your inmost thoughts, desires, sorrows, and sins be poured out like water. Hide nothing from him, for you can hide nothing. To the Lord unburden your soul; let him be your only father confessor, for he only can absolve you when he has heard your confession. To keep our griefs to ourselves is to hoard up wretchedness. The stream will swell and rage if you dam it up: give it a clear course, and it leaps along and creates no alarm. Sympathy we need, and if we unload our hearts at Jesus’ feet, we shall obtain a sympathy as practical as it is sincere, as consolatory as it is ennobling.” (unknown) 

With much love in Christ,
Cara Blondo