Is God Enough?—Encouragement From David’s PsalmsSample

Is God’s Friendship Enough?

Is there anyone in your life whom you trust completely? Have you found safe people who know your good, bad, and ugly self and love you still? Lasting friendship is based on truth, honesty, and helping each other become more like Jesus (Proverbs 27:17). However, if we rush to unload our emotional burdens on earthly friends—before rushing to God—we may fall prey to thinly veiled gossip.

Early in pastoral ministry, we landed in a wonderful church, hungry for God and open to our friendship. While attending a deacon meeting, however, I was stunned into silence while those same friends shredded my husband’s heart. My anger battled with fear, and the two merged into an overwhelming sense of betrayal.

David, too, was devastated when a close friend betrayed him. In Psalm 55:1-8, he used words like anguished, distraught, trembling, and horrified to describe his feelings—and mine.

After the awful meeting, I drove home and immediately phoned my two dearest friends. Neither was home. Grabbing a leash, I embarked on a very long walk with our dog, ranting to her as if she could help. After a few blocks, I felt God’s Whisper: “Why not talk to Me?”

Of course, I would talk to Him, but I preferred talking to someone with skin on. But to a dog? Conviction laid open my heart.

What’s the real reason you want to talk to your friends first?

I admitted the ugly truth to Him and myself. God already knew what happened. He didn’t need me to recount the details. If one of my friends had picked up her phone, we would have spent too much time on what happened and too little on how I should respond. I would have started the conversation with, “I really need your prayers.”

But I hadn’t prayed about it yet.

Asking for prayer is good, but subjecting our friends to details—before we’ve opened our hearts to Jesus—places an unfair burden on human shoulders. Have you, like me, tried to justify ranting by calling it venting? Sharing unchecked emotions with friends is like launching emotional grenades into their lives without considering the fallout. Why not vent instead, as David did, to the One who searches our hearts AND the hearts of our offenders?

I now use these questions as a litmus test when sharing my heart with a friend:

1. Have I talked to God before talking to others?
2. Would I share the same emotions—anger/fear/weariness—if the offender were sitting next to me?

By the time I returned home, God had revealed a lot of gunk inside me and helped refocus my anger on the true enemy (Ephesians 6:12). No matter what burdens we place on God’s shoulders, He can’t love us more or less. When we honor God’s intention for friendship, we feel His love through their warm hugs, wise words, and practical help.

“Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous be shaken…as for me, I trust in You” Psalm 55:22-23.

God’s Friendship Is Enough because His unconditional love can carry the full weight of our unfiltered emotions.

What other questions might you create as a litmus test to discern if gossip has slipped into your friendships?

Whatever you’re feeling right now, take a few moments and unload your burdens onto God’s divine shoulders. Rant to the One whose steadfast love never fails.