A clerk who helped me purchase a small digital voice recorder told me that he kept one just like it in his car when he worked in California. "When I began driving home after work, I switched it on", he said, "and I talked about everything that happened that day on the job, good and bad. When I pulled into my driveway, I hit the erase button". Then he smiled. After telling everything to his voice recorder, he apparently no need to go over the day's problems with his wife or family.
It reminded me of how often I needlessly rehearse my disappointments and problems to others instead of telling them to God. The psalmist wrote: "Trust in Him at all times, you people; pour out your heart before Him; God is a refuge for us" (Ps. 62:8). Twice he spoke of waiting silently for God, his rock and salvation (vv. 1-2, 5-7). While there is great comfort in sharing our difficulties with a friend, we miss the greatest help if we fail to bring them to the Lord. No matter where we are, Jesus is only a prayer away.
Joseph Scriven said it so well: What a Friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear! What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer! O what peace we often forfeit, o what needless pain we bear. All because we do not carry everything to God in prayer!
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