Transforming Prayers

Have you ever had a week that has just gone from bad to worse?  And you've thought, things couldn't get any more awful?  That was my week last week.  It began with the news of a loved one dying and spending time with family at the funeral, to my youngest daughter getting a chest infection and then my other daughter having an anaphylaxis reaction requiring and epipen injection and a trip in the ambulance.   And I'm left asking myself, what more can I take Lord?


I am not the only one who has felt times when life gives you curve balls leaving you feeling numb and hurt.  The anguish of our hearts during times of grief and pain can be indescribable.  But they can be expressed to the Lord.    David wrote many prayers from an anguished heart to the Lord.  In fact David shows us how it is done in Psalm 22.  He starts off asking Why? Why? Why?

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Why are you so far from saving me,
so far from my cries of anguish?
My God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer,
by night, but I find no rest. (Psalm 22:1-2)

Interestingly, David stops to remind himself of what the Lord has done for Israel. Rather than continuing on that thread of where is God, he deliberately puts his eyes onto God.

Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One;
you are the one Israel praises.
In you our ancestors put their trust;
they trusted and you delivered them.
To you they cried out and were saved;
in you they trusted and were not put to shame. (Psalm 22:3-5)

David again cries out to God about what is happening to him, pouring his specific concerns out to God.

But I am a worm and not a man,
scorned by everyone, despised by the people.
All who see me mock me;
they hurl insults, shaking their heads.
“He trusts in the LORD,” they say,
“let the LORD rescue him.
Let him deliver him,
since he delights in him.” (Psalm 22:6-8)

Again David stops and remembers what the Lord has been for him.

Yet you brought me out of the womb;
you made me trust in you, even at my mother’s breast.
From birth I was cast on you;
from my mother’s womb you have been my God. (Psalm 22:9-10)

Notice how David consciously brings his thoughts back to God.  We see again in verses 12-21 David expressing his deep distress to God using metaphors to portray the attacks from his enemies and his inner sense of powerlessness under their fierce attacks. But in verses 22-31 we witness a change in David's prayer, he's praising God!  How is that possible?  It's possible because David never loses sight of who God is and his love for those who fear him and call on his name.

The transformation of David's prayer from cries to praise comes from remembering who God is, what he has done and the trust in his certainty of deliverance and in God keeping his promises. Remember that David's praise to God is in anticipation of God's deliverance. David's situation hasn't changed but his attitude and perspective has shifted, enabling him to praise God, and acknowledge the universal rule of God, "All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the LORD, and all the families of the nations will bow down before him, for dominion belongs to the LORD and he rules over the nations.(Psalm 22:27-28).  As David prays his fear is dissolved as he remembers the power of God and his character.

I just love this prayer as it shows me how I can express my deepest hurts to God when times are hard and also how prayer changes my eyes from being focused on me to being focused on God and who he is, enabling me to praise him during hard times.

So as we go on with life let us focus our attention on who God is and his promises as revealed to us in scripture, as God's word is the anchor to our souls, keeping us firm and secure no matter our circumstances.  That's not easy,  but it is worth it.  

  

Question: When things go bad, what is your response?

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