LONG Prayers

 

Monday, September 14, 2026

I cry aloud to God, aloud to God, and he will hear me.  I sought the Lord in my day of trouble.  My hands were continually lifted up all night long; I refused to be comforted.  I think of God; I groan; I meditate; my spirit becomes weak. Selah

You have kept me from closing my eyes; I am troubled and cannot speak.  I consider days of old, years long past.  At night I remember my music; I meditate in my heart, and my spirit ponders.  “Will the Lord reject forever
and never again show favor? Has his faithful love ceased forever? Is his promise at an end for all generations? Has God forgotten to be gracious? Has he in anger withheld his compassion?” Selah

So I say, “I am grieved that the right hand of the Most High has changed.”        I will remember the Lord’s works; yes, I will remember your ancient wonders.  I will reflect on all you have done and meditate on your actions.  God, your way is holy.  What god is great like God?  You are the God who works wonders; you revealed your strength among the peoples.  With power you redeemed your people, the descendants of Jacob and Joseph. Selah

The water saw you, God.  The water saw you; it trembled.  Even the depths shook.  The clouds poured down water.  The storm clouds thundered; your arrows flashed back and forth.  The sound of your thunder was in the whirlwind; lightning lit up the world.  The earth shook and quaked.  Your way went through the sea and your path through the vast water, but your footprints were unseen.  You led your people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron.  Psalm 77:1-20

Whenever I hear the phrase “long prayer” my mind goes back to childhood days when any prayer seemed too long at the dinner table when I was hungry.  A bit sacrilegious at worst, and ungrateful at best, I just hated to let good food get cold!

But another sense of “long” praying is when you’re suffering, and it seems like Heaven has closed-up shop for the season.  The Psalmist has prayed through the night, hands lifted up like a broken puppy, and he wonders, has God forgotten to be gracious?  This is the lament of one who counted upon God’s help and feels so alone, as if the universe has moved on without him.  The game is over…all is lost.  Ever felt that way?  Ever felt like just giving up?

Well, don’t start the pity party just yet; the Psalmist was only warming up.  In lament praying, he has started by owning his feelings and assessing what he can see. 

¹⁰ So I say, “I am grieved that the right hand of the Most High has changed.”       

But then…faith takes over:

^11-13 I will remember the Lord’s works; yes, I will remember your ancient wonders.  I will reflect on all you have done and meditate on your actions.  God, your way is holy.  What god is great like God?  

The praying man begins to pray in the confidence of a man with broken confidence; shaken by the world and all it holds, he does what is unthinkable to those who don’t know God….he lifts up faith, the evidence of things not seen.[1]  He restates his confidence in God’s love and care.

For You Today

If life has handed you nothing but lament lately, recall that life is always full of that.  There is plenty of suffering to be had by all.  But while you suffer, make your long prayer a Godly one…own your shaken faith, and then lift that faith to the God who is the author of it all.  Do your lamenting well.  As He loved Israel, He will also love you!

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!  

[1] Title and Other Images: Pexels from Pixabay  Unless noted, Scripture from Christian Standard Bible^©

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[1] Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.  Hebrews 11:1

Has God Forgotten to Be Gracious?

 

Tuesday, February 23, 2021

I cry out to God; yes, I shout.  Oh, that God would listen to me!  When I was in deep trouble, I searched for the Lord.  All night long I prayed, with hands lifted toward heaven, but my soul was not comforted.  I think of God, and I moan, overwhelmed with longing for his help.    Interlude
You don’t let me sleep.  I am too distressed even to pray!  I think of the good old days, long since ended, when my nights were filled with joyful songs.  I search my soul and ponder the difference now.  Has the Lord rejected me forever?  Will he never again be kind to me?  Is his unfailing love gone forever?  Have his promises permanently failed?  Has God forgotten to be gracious?  Has he slammed the door on his compassion?  Interlude
And I said, “This is my fate; the Most High has turned his hand against me.”  But then I recall all you have done, O Lord; I remember your wonderful deeds of long ago.  They are constantly in my thoughts.  I cannot stop thinking about your mighty works.  O God, your ways are holy.  Is there any god as mighty as you?  You are the God of great wonders!  You demonstrate your awesome power among the nations.  By your strong arm, you redeemed your people, the descendants of Jacob and Joseph.  Interlude

When the Red Sea saw you, O God, its waters looked and trembled!  The sea quaked to its very depths.  The clouds poured down rain; the thunder rumbled in the sky.  Your arrows of lightning flashed.  Your thunder roared from the whirlwind; the lightning lit up the world!  The earth trembled and shook.  Your road led through the sea, your pathway through the mighty waters—a pathway no one knew was there!  You led your people along that road like a flock of sheep, with Moses and Aaron as their shepherds.  Psalm 77:1-20

“Has God forgotten to be gracious?”  If the Psalmist  is anything like Russell, as soon as those words dropped from his pen to the paper, he wished he’d never thought it.  Even now I have trouble asking a question like that.  But Scripture and the gracious character of God always invite us to ask the hard questions.

Asking those “hard” questions is almost a natural response during hard times, and nothing about this decade of the 20’s is starting-off anything but hard!  The 20^th century had its’ roaring twenties, the 21^st century has a meek meow of COVID-19 and economic distress.  Amid the pain, separation, frustration and unanswered questions and prayers, the uneasy suspicion that lingers in the middle of sleepless nights is:  where is this God who is supposed to answer our call for help?

The easy, or quick answer:  you’re not asking the right questions, or, say ‘please’, or say it right, not wrong, or wait….  These are all easy to roll off the lips, and have some truth.  We do ask selfishly, or out of God’s will; we sometimes ask, as if in demanding; we ask without willingness to hear, or be patient. 

The hard answer, (hard to hear, accept, or hold onto), is that we might be praying without repentance.  We just might be calling for justice, as if we’re innocent and deserving of better than what we’ve got.  In the court system you can plead to charges in one of two basic ways:  guilty or innocent.  When you plead “innocent” it amounts to saying you have not transgressed the law.  You’re asking for justice which is reserved for those who have completely obeyed.  The other possibility is pleading guilty and throwing oneself on the mercy of the court.

Because our system of jurisprudence is largely based upon the Law, as found in Holy Scripture (e.g. Deuteronomy, Leviticus), we also find our answer in Heaven’s courts.  Scripture, from Genesis to Revelation tells the story, our story, and how there is not a “righteous” person (read that:  without guilt) in the universe[1].  The only possibility for expecting an answer from Heaven requires confession with repentance.  Frankly, given how alien that thought is in 21^st century culture, is it any surprise that Heaven is silent to the questions we ask, or the so-called prayers we offer (which are, more accurately, thinly-veiled demands for justice)?

If the “hard answer” is indeed hard to hear, accept, and hold – good!  This is not a time for easy answers.  So, let’s play big boy and big girl, and get real. 

Here’s how:

If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. 2 Chronicles 7:14

For You Today

That God who is gracious…he’s just waiting for real!

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

[1] Title Image:  Courtesy of Pixabay.com    Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©

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[1] Isaiah 41:26, Romans 3:10

 

Lenten Walk - Part 5

[1]

Wednesday, February 21, 2018

I cry out to God; yes, I shout.  Oh, that God would listen to me!  When I was in deep trouble, I searched for the Lord.  All night long I prayed, with hands lifted toward heaven, but my soul was not comforted.  I think of God, and I moan, overwhelmed with longing for his help.           Interlude   You don’t let me sleep.  I am too distressed even to pray!  I think of the good old days, long since ended, when my nights were filled with joyful songs.  I search my soul and ponder the difference now.  Has the Lord rejected me forever?  Will he never again be kind to me?  Is his unfailing love gone forever?  Have his promises permanently failed?  Has God forgotten to be gracious?  Has he slammed the door on his compassion?     Interlude

And I said, “This is my fate; the Most High has turned his hand against me.”  But then I recall all you have done, O Lord; I remember your wonderful deeds of long ago.  They are constantly in my thoughts.  I cannot stop thinking about your mighty works.  O God, your ways are holy.  Is there any god as mighty as you?  You are the God of great wonders!  You demonstrate your awesome power among the nations.  By your strong arm, you redeemed your people, the descendants of Jacob and Joseph.        Interlude         When the Red Sea saw you, O God, its waters looked and trembled!  The sea quaked to its very depths.  The clouds poured down rain; the thunder rumbled in the sky.  Your arrows of lightning flashed.  Your thunder roared from the whirlwind; the lightning lit up the world!  The earth trembled and shook.  Your road led through the sea, your pathway through the mighty waters—a pathway no one knew was there!  You led your people along that road like a flock of sheep, with Moses and Aaron as their shepherds.  Psalm 77:1-20^(NLT)

My soul is pretty much still churning with the reality of the High School shooting in Parkland, Florida; 17 souls entered eternity.  The families and community are in shock that will cover their lives for years to come, and a 19 year old is behind bars awaiting more emotional pain than he could ever imagine. 

After such an event breaks I cannot help but try to understand the shooter’s motive(s).  I want to know what kind of pain someone was navigating for him to imagine this course of action would somehow bring relief or justification.  It never does.

The writer of Psalm 77 shares something of a parallel to what I envisage as the tortured existence of the accused shooter, Nikolas Cruz whose adopted parents both died, leaving him alone, depressed and suffering from mental illness, according to news reports by CNN[2].  There is no justifying his actions; his pain does not give license to inflict pain on others.  And that is what he did.  Nikolas Cruz imposed his pain on his victims and their families and friends.  May God have mercy.

It is still too new a wound, but the Psalmist does give hope for healing.  After a paragraph of despair and fatalistic hopelessness, from which there appears no escape, the writer turns to the future and a God-pathway from the pit; hear the corner turned:

And I said, “This is my fate; the Most High has turned his hand against me.”  But then I recall all you have done, O Lord; I remember your wonderful deeds of long ago.  They are constantly in my thoughts.  I cannot stop thinking about your mighty works.  O God, your ways are holy.  Is there any god as mighty as you?  You are the God of great wonders! 

It appears Nikolas Cruz never got past that corner.  Our prayers for the shooter, survivors, and their community are that they will find the embrace of the God of the corner and His healing power.

For You Today

When you experience despair, and the pathway in Lent only magnifies Golgotha’s pain, remember the God of the Corner…remember an empty tomb is coming in the morning.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day.

Go to VIDEO

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[1] Title Image:  Courtesy of Pixabay.com

[2] Gunman Confessed…CNN