09/05/2023
How do we pray when we're broken? What do we pray for when we have nothing left, and our life is a shambles? How do we lift our spirits high enough that we can face God with our desires? We are often embarrassed when we have totally failed in life; we cover ourselves in leaves and hide as Adam and Eve did. Is that really what we should do? Is our faith that shallow? Do we believe that God has given us up to our despair?
Have you helplessly called out in distress while everything you own is being thrown out of your home onto the street? Have you watched without recourse as your car was repossessed? Have you walked out of your office with a box of your possessions after being fired and wondered how you could face your spouse... and tomorrow? Are you hearing "There is nothing more that can be done." From your doctor? Have you returned home at the end of the day to find only your things there and your wife or husband gone? Or, maybe you have stood at the graveside of a person you loved dearly and questioned if you could go on without them. We all face great hardship, and loss in our lives, but God is faithful, and as down and discouraged as we may be, Jesus and the Holy Spirit will lead us to Him and intercede for us. Jesus Christ will ask God to pour his mercy over us.
Listen, as Psalm 143 gives us encouragement for those times when we are at our most devastated and distraught. When we have lost everything that we value, the psalmist tells us there is hope; that there is one thing that can't be taken away... our memory of God's great victories and our faith. We are reminded to concentrate on the Lord and not our troubles. Listen…
“For the enemy has pursued my soul; he has crushed my life to the ground; he has made me sit in darkness like those long dead. Therefore my spirit faints within me; my heart within me is appalled. I remember the days of old; I meditate on all that you have done; I ponder the work of your hands. I stretch out my hands to you; my soul thirsts for you like a parched land. Selah”
Psalms 143:3-6 ESV
Isaiah also gives us words that boost our confidence in God during the times when our life has crumpled about us. Isaiah quotes God as He calls us, as His people and children, to come to Him and promises us renewed life and a new covenant.
“"Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live; and I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David.”
Isaiah 55:1, 3 ESV
So, in our most downtrodden, we should call upon the Lord, and our God will hear our sorrow and come to lift us up. He will never abandon us and there is no problem too great for Him to solve, or chasm so deep that He can't lift us from it, and He delivers victory from the arms of every defeat.
“But as for me, I will look to the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me. Rejoice not over me, O my enemy; when I fall, I shall rise; when I sit in darkness, the Lord will be a light to me.”
Micah 7:7-8 ESV
Prayer:
Father I thank you for lifting me in times when I struggle to find hope. I thank you for your strength when the best I can muster is weakness. Holy Father you never fail me and your arms embrace me in all of my suffering. Your love washes over me, and when I can see nothing but darkness my way is illuminated by your presence. In the deserts of my life you sustain me, and when I am parched you quench my thirst. My God, you feed me in the presence of my enemies, and demonstrate your glory before them in my salvation.
Most Gracious Father you come to each of us in our hopelessness, and upon your coming we celebrate and sing out your praises! You are our savior, our hero, our defense against all discouragement... come today... come in all your power and glory. Bless us in these times of suffering and make us whole in your love and mercy. Even before you lift your hand we will praise you because we know your goodness and faithfulness abounds. We know that you keep your promises to those who seek and pray to you despite the shackles of their misfortune and suffering that bind them. Deliver us Father... deliver those with whom we pray… hear our intercession for the downtrodden… deliver all who suffer… deliver me.
“Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.”
Jeremiah 29:12-14 ESV
Rich Forbes