“O Lord, God of my salvation, when, at night, I cry out in your presence, let my prayer come before you; incline your ear to my cry.” -Psalm 88:1-2 NRSV
Have you ever thought that God was just not listening? Have you ever prayed so hard, for so long, that you think—surely God has heard my cries, yet no answers come?
In our impatience in this world, we expect our food to be fast, our internet to have lightning speed, and our packages to arrive the next day. We expect our questions to be answered, or we take our business elsewhere. We expect the world to kneel before us and fulfill all our wants and desires, and when it does not—we are flabbergasted! Miffed! Dare I say, even a little angry!
This is nothing new for us humans. Even the Psalmist, so long ago, writes to God and of God, “O Lord, God of my salvation, when, at night, I cry out in your presence, let my prayer come before you; incline your ear to my cry.” Yet the Psalmist does not hear an answer, and later he cries, “…I O Lord, cry out to you, in the morning my prayer comes before you. Why do you cast me off? Why do you hide your face from me?”
The writer cries and prays, shouts and even praises God, hoping, no, expecting an answer. But in this Psalm at least, no answer comes.
There will be times in our life when we feel that life may overwhelm us. There are challenges all around: a year-long pandemic, illness, isolation, suffering, the death of loved ones. How long must we continue to cry out before we are heard? How long until our suffering is acknowledged?
We have consolation in this Psalm. We hear that we are not alone, and that others who have gone before us have gone through the same struggles as we have. We can take comfort in that fact. We go through a period of struggles and disillusion, but we keep praying anyway. Like the Psalmist, we express our emotions from the deepest parts of our being, and we keep praying. We keep praying because deep down we know that God is listening, and that God hears our cries.
Prayer: God of grace, we cry out to you in our despair. Please hear our cry. Please hear the cries of others too, and help us all to know that you do listen. Comfort our hearts in times of trouble and help us to be a comfort to others in theirs. In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
--Donna Kimbrough
No comments:
Post a Comment