People Who Cry Out to God Change the World
What Psalms 22 teaches us about learning to vent to God
God, please help me. I feel overwhelmed…
I didn’t think that this question to God would lead me to observing a blister that had been on my foot for seven days after my thirty-mile run. 🏃♂️🩹 It wasn’t just any blister — it got infected. My head was pounding. My body was tired.
But then I remembered: a month earlier, my daughter (whose name just so happens to be Mercy 💖) had gotten a little infection too. We still had some of her antibiotics, and by God’s grace 🙌, I was able to heal up quickly.
To most, this probably sounds like a silly situation.
But to me?
It was the mercy of God — His hand on my life even in something so small. ✋✨
Then there was another time...
I was fourteen years old — lost, hurting, angry. 😔
And in a moment of utter helplessness, I cried out:
Where are You, God? Where is my father?!
I mean, I let Him have it.
But looking back, I realize something profound:
Even in my messy, angry cry, I was still turning to Him. 🔥
Whatever the situation has looked like in my life — whether a blister on my foot or a broken heart — sharing my heart with God (yes, crying out, asking great things, being honest because of relationship) has been radically transformative.
And it’s something our generation, especially men, desperately needs to recover. 💥
🙏 Why We Need to Learn How to Cry Out
Today, many men and probably a lot of women are taught:
Suck it up. 🧱
Push it down. 📦
Don’t feel. Don’t talk. Just deal. 😶
Or if we do vent, we often vent away from God — through anger, addiction, isolation — instead of to Him.
But that’s not how men of God in the Bible lived.
In fact, the Bible shows us that true strength is found in learning to cry out to God honestly.
It’s a lost art we desperately have to recover.
📜 1. How Did People in David’s Time “Cry Out” to God?
In the Bible, especially in the Psalms, crying out wasn’t seen as faithlessness.
It was an act of faith. ✊
It meant bringing raw grief, confusion, pain, frustration, even anger to God rather than away from Him.
Biblical cries usually followed a pattern:
Cry out honestly ("My God, why?") 😭
Present the complaint ("I am surrounded by enemies; my bones are broken.") ⚔️
Ask boldly ("Rescue me! Hear my cry!") 📢
Express trust in advance ("Yet I will praise You.") 🎶
Key Thought:
In David’s world, being raw with God was a sign of relationship.
You only cry like that to someone you believe deep down inside is still listening. 👂❤️
Example:
Psalm 22:1 —
"My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from my cries of anguish?"
David wasn’t rejecting God — he was clinging to God through his pain, even when he didn’t feel Him. 🤲
✝️ 2. Why Did Both David and Jesus Cry "Why Have You Forsaken Me?"
This is one of the most profound mysteries in all of Scripture.
David’s Situation:
In Psalm 22, David felt utterly abandoned. Life was collapsing.
Yet even in that dark place, he clung to covenant:
"My God."
It wasn’t a declaration of defeat — it was a cry of desperate trust.
Jesus on the Cross (Matthew 27:46):
When Jesus cried out,
"My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?"
He was doing at least three powerful things:
Expressing real anguish — Jesus truly felt the separation as He bore the full curse of sin for us (Galatians 3:13). 😔
Fulfilling prophecy — By quoting Psalm 22, Jesus pointed to Himself as the promised King who would suffer and be vindicated. 👑
Giving us permission — Jesus shows us that bringing raw, honest cries to God is not rebellion — it’s relationship. 🤝
Key Insight:
Jesus did not lose faith when He cried this out.
He was still praying using the personal and profoundly intimate possessive adjective (had to look up this grammar 😂):
"My God."
He felt forsaken so that we would never truly be forsaken.
Jesus took the ultimate abandonment so that even when we feel abandoned, we are never truly alone.
📣 3. How Can We (Especially Men) Cry Out to God Today?
Here’s what biblical crying out teaches:
You can be real. 🔥
You can cry. 😢
You can even accuse God of His absence, as long as you’re still talking to Him. 🗣️
🚨 A Word to All of Us — Whether You're New to Faith or Been Around a While
You might be reading this thinking:
"I don't really feel close to God right now."
"I barely talk to Him except at church or when life falls apart."
You are not alone.
The truth is — whether someone is a brand-new believer or has been saved for ten years — many Christians today aren't truly spending time with God.
We know about Him.
We go to services, listen to podcasts, and read devotionals.
We try to be good people.
But we rarely sit in His presence, share our real hearts, or listen to His voice.
And without real relationship, crying out feels strange.
But here’s the hope:
👉 You can start building (or rebuilding) that relationship TODAY.
Not by perfect prayers. Not by religious performance.
But by simple, messy, honest conversation. 🧎♂️
📖 Simple Prayer to Begin:
"God, I’m here. I want to know You.
I don’t have all the right words.
But I believe You hear me.
Help me be honest with You.
Help me trust You, even when I don’t understand."
📝 Simple Practice to Begin:
Read one Psalm a day (start with Psalm 13, Psalm 22, or Psalm 40). 📖
Write one honest sentence to God in a journal. 📝
End every prayer with: "But I’m still talking to You." 🙏
The relationship will grow.
The honesty will deepen.
And you’ll discover that God isn’t just strong enough to handle your cries — He welcomes them. 🌟
🛡️ Never Finished Challenge 🔥✍️
This week, take 10 minutes and write your own cry out to God.
Start wherever you are — joy, confusion, anger, loneliness — and pour it out to Him. 🧎♂️
End it with:
"But I’m still talking to You, whether in silence or with words, MY God." 🙏
He’s not afraid of your honesty.
In fact, He delights in it.
Because that's what real relationship looks like.
Let’s never be finished getting in the presence of God!
💬 What Does Today Say About God?
He is a loving Father.
At fourteen years old, I heard Him answer my cries with these very words:
"You have a Father. I am your Father. I have always loved you, and I will never stop loving you. One day, I am going to use you for something special."
To understand the love of the Father, as a hurting fourteen-year-old, and to experience that valley of venting, complaining, and crying out to God has forever changed my life.
God is not absent in the trials.
He is closer than words can truly express. 🕊️
What a Father.
What a King.
What a Friend.
Thank you, Jesus! 🙌