Prayer of the desparate
Reflections on Psalm 88:1-18
“O Lord, God of my salvation, I cry out to you by day. I come to you at night. Now hear my prayer, listen to my cry. For my life is full of troubles, and death draws near.” Psalm 88:1-3
In everyone’s life, prayer takes different forms. We may be so grateful for all the people in our lives that we pray thanksgiving to God for our special relationships. At others times, we pray for guidance in the decisions we need to make. We hear the health needs of friends or we are given questionable news about ourselves, we contact prayer groups at church to keep us upheld. Sometimes the need for prayer comes slowly, at other times fast; when it comes we know. However there is an element to prayer that most people would not see as genuine, that is the prayer of the desperate.
Desperate times could come in many ways. You have lost your job and the financial resources you enjoyed have dried up. You come home from a difficult day, to note on the table that your spouse has left you. Your child has gotten in trouble with the law and they are in jail. The bank has foreclosed on your loan and demand payment immediately. There could be any number of reasons why desperate situations may befall you, but “your back is against the wall.” You can’t see any solution to your situation. You can’t figure out any other way than to consider taking your life. STOP!! The element of desperation is in every situation, we just don’t realize it when it arrives.
Take for instance Hannah in 1 Samuel 1:9-28. She is a woman of advanced age. She was known as barren, a woman without a child. Hannah felt she had let her husband down without giving him a child to carry the family name into the future. She didn’t know what to do, so she went to the temple daily to pray for God’s mercy. The temple priest Eli saw her in such a desperate state that he thought she was drunk. Explaining her situation to Eli, he blessed her with God’s word of promise and she gave birth to Samuel who became the first prophet to Israel.
Take a look at the prayers you pray, there is always present a desperate need you bring before the Lord. Do not think to feel that you disappointed God or that you are an evil person when a desperate feeling comes to your heart. A desperate feeling means that you have done everything that you can think of to overcome your situation, now you pray so that God will take over. I know we should pray for God’s guidance first, but we don’t think that way; not until we feel defeated by our own ideas, then we seek God’s help he answers quickly. When we feel some desperation in our prayers this puts God back into the driver’s seat of our life.
Dear Lord, I often feel defeated when I experience desperate times in my life, now I see this is normal. Help me to pray for your guidance sooner, before I feel all avenues are lost. The more I seek your help, the closer you bring me to your heart. Amen.