5 Days of PrayerSample

HONESTY IN DESPAIR

Newsflash: Life can be hard! Frankly, life can be a lot worse than “hard,” but this is a Bible reading plan, so let’s keep our description of life’s darkest moments G-Rated, shall we? It doesn’t matter who you are, we all have the potential to find ourselves at a point of total despair – where it seems all hope is lost, everything is falling apart, and you just aren’t sure you can keep going. Ever been there? How in the world are we supposed to pray in those moments?

Fortunately, God has given us plenty of examples of this exact kind of prayer in the Bible…many of them from the one and only King David. If you read the story of the life of this legend (beyond the David and Goliath story that first made him famous), he faced a ton of tragedy. He was on the run for his life multiple times (usually when he hadn’t actually done anything wrong). Even his own sons turned against him and tried to take his throne by force, sending him on the run yet again. David spent a lot of nights hiding out in a cave, crying out to God. Fortunately, he brought along a scroll and a pen, and wrote a bunch of these prayers down in those moments. Psalm 86 is one such prayer.

As you read this today, notice the honesty with which David approaches God. He isn’t sugar-coating anything, he isn’t trying to pray holy prayers and happy thoughts…he’s just honestly telling God exactly how he's feeling. Yet, even in the midst of that, watch how glimpses of hope crash their way into David’s despair. He’s pouring out his anguish, tears probably streaming down his face, and he suddenly gets a reminder of just how good God is. As he unloads all his pain before the Lord, God keeps filling that empty space with his presence and goodness. God will do the same for us…we just have to be willing to turn to him in those moments. 

I’m not sure where you’re at as you read this today, but if you’re in a place of pain or darkness, make God the first place you turn. Don’t hold back, don’t feel like you have to have your feelings all figured out…just sit there and let it all pour out before your God who loves you. I think you’ll be amazed at just how much God can do with our honesty when we’re truly broken before him.