Day 9

1 Samuel 20:41

One of the greatest gifts of a close friend who’s got your back is that you can be real with them. You don’t have to hide your mistakes, your shame, your failures. You can pour out your heart when it hurts and when its full. A close friend who’s got your back, doesn’t mind, in fact will expect, that you take off your mask and stop hiding your imperfections from them. Why? Because they know that being who you are with no mask is one of the healthiest things you can do.

When Jonathan discovers that his father is out to kill David, they find each other in a field, and David loses it. David is about to enter into one of the darkest times of his life and he sets out to flee from the murderous hands of King Saul. David had done no wrong, but Saul continues to pursue him to end his life. And, in this one brief moment, two friends are able to be a real as it gets and simply weep together at the situation. Jonathan’s own dad is trying to kill his best friend. The faithful servant, David, who has done nothing but help Saul, is running scared for his life. The masks come off and there is a moment of realness and raw emotion.

When was the last time you had a chance to take your mask off and let go your emotions? Too often we try to hold it all together for our family and for friend and even before God. But God doesn’t desire that you have it all together, He desires honesty and openness. To put it another way, the sacrifice God desires is a broken and contrite heart and spirit (Psalm 51:17). Holding it all together for God is not discipleship. Turning too God in our brokenness is. And God rewards those who do so, He rewards them by accepting them just as they are and loving them all the more.

If it’s been a while since you have lost it with God, pulled your mask off and let loose the raw emotion and energy you’ve been holding in, then you’ve been carrying with you an unnecessary burden. Today is the day you can lose it with Him, and no that it’s a sacrifice that is pleasing to Him.