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Praying in Unprayerful Times

Psalm 105:1 begins a symphony of giving God thanks and to call on His name. Make known His deeds among the nations, sing of His work and tell of all His mighty acts. How can you sing and speak of God’s goodness, when you can barely utter a prayer? Lamentations 3:20 Are you emotionally at a point where you feel unprayerful?

I use to hide my prayers. In fear of what God may think of my thoughts, I would hold back my inner emotions in prayer. Ironically, there’s nothing I can do to hide myself from God, not even my prayers. He knows every thought and word before it is on my tongue. Psalm 139:4

The Bible does not hold back, even in desperate times, and neither should we in our prayers. The opposite of our expectations occur in God’s word, outlining our human innate need to pray prayers of all kinds and to believe that God hears us. We see in Job 27:9 “”Will God hear his cry When distress comes upon him?” In Psalm61.1 “Hear my cry, O God; Give heed to my prayer.” We also hear God’s response in Exodus 22:23 “If you afflict him at all, and if he does cry out to Me, I will surely hear his cry;”

Eugene Peterson tells us that we must pray who we actually are, not who we think we should be. The way of prayer is not to cover our unfavorable emotions, and to make us appear presentable in God’s sight. The soul of a worshiper uses prayer to expose the reality of our hearts before God. His miracles transform the heart and the glory of His work is displayed. Romans 8:26

Psalm 105:3 calls us to seek the Lord, and to help us get to a place to call on His name, give thanks, sing of His word and proclaim to the earth what He has done. What better way is there to experience the mercy of God than by taking something so unmentionable and unprayerful I have and letting Him turn it into something glorious? Romans 12:2