Prayers of lament to God
Have compassion on me, Lord, for I am weak. Heal me, Lord, for my bones are in agony. I am sick at heart. How long, O Lord, until you restore me? Psalm 6:2-3
When we think of the Psalms, we will often think of the ones that glow with praise and worship. Many of them, of course, are exactly like that. However, the majority are what we call psalms of lament, and this is one of them. Everything seemed to be going wrong and out of the depths of pain and despair David cried out to God. We don’t know what was causing him to feel this way, but he brought his raw emotions to God. He had become disorientated, and he looked to God to put him back on track.
It’s vital that we follow David’s example and come to God with complete honesty. There will be many times when our hearts are overflowing with praise and worship. But there will be days when we are struggling with our emotions too. Perhaps we have moved to a new area or started a new job and we are feeling confused and unsure of ourselves. At other times tensions within relationships dominate our minds. Health issues, whether our own or of those close to us, will hold centre stage on other occasions. It would be foolish to put on an act and pretend to God that everything is going fine. That is the last thing he wants. He wants us to come to him as we are.
As David presented his distress to God, he was confident that the Lord would answer him. In verse 9 he wrote: “The Lord has heard my plea; the Lord will answer my prayer.” He didn’t state that God had sorted out his problems, but he was absolutely confident that he would do so. Many of the challenges we face in life don’t suddenly disappear when we bring them to God. But, like David, we can be confident that, when we present our dilemmas to God with complete honesty, he will hear us and will respond lovingly.
QUESTION
When and how do you bring your laments to God? Does your church worship help you to bring prayers of lament to God?
PRAYER
Loving God, thank you that I can be totally honest with you, knowing that you know and love me completely. Amen
Flowers – courtesy St Colman’s, Dunmurry
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