I want my kids to feel like they can talk to me about anything and not be afraid of how I might react. In fact, one of my biggest “pet peeves” is when my youngest daughter does this thing where she’ll say something, and I don’t quite hear her, so I ask her to repeat it, and she says, “Never mind.” Grr. I really don’t care for those words, “Never mind,” especially in this situation, where I want to hear from my girl. I know I can handle anything she needs to tell me, and I believe I got this quality from my Father God.

 

When the psalmist had concerns about God rejecting him and not showing him love, mercy, and compassion, the psalmist did not say, “Never mind.” He spoke up. He wrote words like those we read in Psalm 77:7-9:

 

⁷ “Will the Lord reject forever?
    Will he never show his favor again?
⁸ Has his unfailing love vanished forever?
    Has his promise failed for all time?
⁹ Has God forgotten to be merciful?

    Has he in anger withheld his compassion?”

 

It seems awfully bold to me that this person would ask such questions of God. In fact, it frightens me. But should the psalmist be afraid of being totally honest with his Creator? If he was, wouldn’t that be much like him saying, “Never mind?” Wouldn’t he be doing the very thing my daughter does when she avoids sharing something with me? If I can handle anything my girl needs to tell her daddy, why in the world would I believe that God cannot handle what I, His child, need to tell Him? The next time I want to say, “Never mind” to God, I’ll say, instead, “Here’s all of my mind.” I suspect He knows, anyway.

 

Troy Burns