Desperate Prayers of The Poor and Needy

Do you ever find that you want to listen to different kinds of music depending on your mood? I am simply mad over the song by the Foo Fighters, Pretender. Mad, I tell you. And I’ve got that thing cranked so loud on my ipod when I’m on the elliptical machine at the gym that I’m surprised my ears aren’t bleeding when I’m done.

But when I’m chopping veggies for dinner or sitting by the fireplace on a winter evening, a little Bach goes a long way. And in my reflective moments, when I’m seeking God in a deeper way, connecting to my longings for Him and His ways, there are some great tunes that say exactly what I’m feeling and they release the tension in my soul a little.

Scripture is like that for me, too. Especially the psalms. The writers of those poems and songs had experiences just like me – well, I was never chased in the desert by someone who wanted to kill me, but other than that, pretty similar. King David sinned and felt remorse. So have I. He felt betrayed and angry. So have I. Occasionally he would bust out in spontaneous song or exclamation because he was so grateful or excited or joyful over what God had done in his life. So have I. That gives me comfort that I’m not alone in my emotional wanderings. I’m not a freak. Not because of that stuff, anyway.

Have you ever felt like this?

⁸ I am feeble and utterly crushed;

I groan in anguish of heart.

⁹ All my longings lie open before you, O Lord;

my sighing is not hidden from you.

¹⁰ My heart pounds, my strength fails me;

even the light has gone from my eyes.

²¹ O LORD, do not forsake me;

be not far from me, O my God.

²² Come quickly to help me,

O Lord my Savior. (Psalm 38: 8-10; 21-22)

In a position of weakness, pain and desolation, with no hope but the Savior of your soul, who seems far away and silent. You’ve laid out your complaints, your heartache, and your deepest desire. You are just done. And nothing changes. You know that God knows your situation, but that doesn’t change it.

What does David pray for and what should we pray for in those times? Look at the second half of verse 21 – be not far from me, O God. The nearness of God’s Presence. The woman in the gospel account who had been bleeding for 12 years and thought, if I could only touch his cloak, I would be healed. She sensed it. The four men who lowered their crippled friend through the roof of a house just to hear Jesus and be near Him. They sensed it. And we know that the bleeding woman was healed and so was the paralyzed man. How did David’s multiple crises affect him? Psalm 40 gives some insight.

¹ I waited patiently for the LORD;

he turned to me and heard my cry.

² He lifted me out of the slimy pit,

out of the mud and mire;

he set my feet on a rock

and gave me a firm place to stand.

³ He put a new song in my mouth,

a hymn of praise to our God.

Many will see and fear

and put their trust in the LORD.

(Psalm 40:1-3)

All but the last line are past tense, indicating that all the good things David is describing here have happened to him. And yet, verse 17 tells us that not everything is hunky dory:

¹⁷ Yet I am poor and needy;

may the Lord think of me.

You are my help and my deliverer;

O my God, do not delay.

Can two such seemingly contradictory truths coexist? Can I remember past positive experiences with God and still be in anguish? If David’s life is any indication, yes. If my own life experience is any indication, yes. What’s more, remembering the times God has come through for me, touched my heart with His Presence and transformed me in the process, allows me – no, compels me to have hope for the future.

This is one reason I find journaling to be so important. Like the beginning of Psalm 40, my journal entries of God’s activity in my life remind me that those experiences were, in fact, real. I did sense His Presence. I did hear His voice. The last time I groaned in anguish and laid out my longings before God, He met me. He answered my prayer and He moved me from one reality to another. It really happened. So, here I am again, in that place of emotional poverty and desperation, and I can trust that He hears me and will be not far from me.

In addition to knowing God more deeply because of the emotional turmoil He’s taken me through, these painful experiences show those around us what it looks like to trust in God. Psalm 40:3 says, “many will see and fear and put their trust in the LORD”. God can use my distress to reveal Himself to others.

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• Read all of Psalm 38 and Psalm 40. Underline or write in a journal key verses that resonate with you. It may be past or present circumstances, but make a note of that which seems to figuratively jump off the page at you. Turn those into prayers to God: prayers of thanksgiving or sighing or whatever….

• This week spend some time reflecting on a time when you were in a position like David describes in Psalm 38. What was the outcome? How are you different because of it? If you are in the middle of it, be honest with God like David was and ask Him to be near you.