“Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am languishing;
heal me, O Lord, for my bones are troubled.
My soul also is greatly troubled.
But you, O Lord—how long?
…
I am weary with my moaning;
every night I flood my bed with tears;
I drench my couch with my weeping.
…
The Lord has heard my plea;
the Lord accepts my prayer.”
– Psalm 6:2,3,6,9
King David, the man after God’s own heart and inspired author of so many psalms, teaches us how to pray amidst pain. Sometimes there will be tremendous pain in life. Sometimes that pain doesn’t end, at least not as quickly as we’d prefer. How should we pray in these situations? Honestly! God already knows your heart and mind. There’s no need to wear a mask with God. There’s no need to pretend that everything is OK when it isn’t. David teaches us how to pour out our hearts to God. It’s OK to do so. You won’t offend God by telling Him of your hurt and your desire for the pain to end.
At the same time, David teaches us how to pray with faith and respect toward God. Even though his pain continued, David knew that God heard his prayers and that He cares for His suffering children. For followers of Jesus, we have the ultimate guarantee of this. Jesus, the eternal Son of God, suffered and died for our sins so that when we entrust our lives to Him, we are adopted as precious children of God. This guarantees that our Father in Heaven hears our prayers and loves and cares for us amidst our pain. Indeed, our Savior lives in us and walks with us through our suffering. And so, we can pray in faith, even when our pain continues.
Faithful honesty. That is prayer that will always be heard and honored by our Father in Heaven. Even when our pain will continue. Even when God’s answer is what it was for the Apostle Paul, that His strength will be displayed to the world through our weakness. Even then, there is value in faithful, honest prayers because they bring us closer to the presence and love of our Lord. #FollowJesus