Prayer Service: Prayers In Confusing Times

Theme: Prayers that Ask “Why?”

GATHER

OPENING PRAYER

Opening Reflection & Prayer: Pour Out Your Hearts

The more we get to know GOd personally, the more comfortable we will be with being authentic and real in expressing ourselves to him.

God is our Father and we should feel free in coming to Him as a Father.

We can pour out our hearts to Him.

God is not embarrassed or angered by our doubts and questions.

He is big enough to take them.

You cannot shock God.

Song: Abide With Me (#419)

Scripture: Psalm 42:9-10 (p. 554)

Psalm 42:9–10 ESV

9 I say to God, my rock: “Why have you forgotten me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?” 10 As with a deadly wound in my bones, my adversaries taunt me, while they say to me all the day long, “Where is your God?”

Reflection & Prayer: The Value of God’s ‘Absence’

Where is God?

This is a question that can often arise when we don’t understand the things that happen in the world around us or in our personal lives.

Even the psalmists, who clearly enjoyed a close intimate relationship with God, at times expressed a feeling of distance from God.

Psalm 10:1 ESV

1 Why, O Lord, do you stand far away? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?

Psalm 13:1–2 ESV

1 How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? 2 How long must I take counsel in my soul and have sorrow in my heart all the day? How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?

Psalm 22:11–12 ESV

11 Be not far from me, for trouble is near, and there is none to help. 12 Many bulls encompass me; strong bulls of Bashan surround me;

What are we to do when it feels like God is out of reach?

Even when it feels like God is absent there can be a precious blessing in it.

It strengthens our faith.

We have to trust what we cannot feel in a moment.

It reminds us not to take God for granted,

He is not our friend who does us favors when we call. Like a genie who grants wishes.

He is the Lord who dwells in unapproachable light.

It makes us cherish all the more the sens of his presence in our lives.

God is never truly absent from our lives, it is rather that the things hidden in our hearts have obscured our eyes from seeing him.

Anger, fear, anxiety, pride, etc.

When these things are exposed, now the Lord will be able to deal with them.

We need not fear that we have ever been abandoned.

We need only to wait on Him in prayer.

Psalm 27:13–14 ESV

13 I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living! 14 Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!

Isaiah 8:17 ESV

17 I will wait for the Lord, who is hiding his face from the house of Jacob, and I will hope in him.

<Prayer about the Lord, giving thanks for his faithfulness to us>

Song: What a Friend We Have in Jesus (#435)

Scripture: Psalm 40:11-17 (p. 553)

Psalm 40:11–17 ESV

11 As for you, O Lord, you will not restrain your mercy from me; your steadfast love and your faithfulness will ever preserve me! 12 For evils have encompassed me beyond number; my iniquities have overtaken me, and I cannot see; they are more than the hairs of my head; my heart fails me. 13 Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me! O Lord, make haste to help me! 14 Let those be put to shame and disappointed altogether who seek to snatch away my life; let those be turned back and brought to dishonor who delight in my hurt! 15 Let those be appalled because of their shame who say to me, “Aha, Aha!” 16 But may all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you; may those who love your salvation say continually, “Great is the Lord!” 17 As for me, I am poor and needy, but the Lord takes thought for me. You are my help and my deliverer; do not delay, O my God!

Reflection & Prayer: Tell God Everything

David was the most prolific psalmist, and it is wonderful that we have such a breadth of prayers from the events of his life.

He was a man who experienced many troubles in life.

Despised by his brothers

1 Samuel 17:20–29 ESV

20 And David rose early in the morning and left the sheep with a keeper and took the provisions and went, as Jesse had commanded him. And he came to the encampment as the host was going out to the battle line, shouting the war cry. 21 And Israel and the Philistines drew up for battle, army against army. 22 And David left the things in charge of the keeper of the baggage and ran to the ranks and went and greeted his brothers. 23 As he talked with them, behold, the champion, the Philistine of Gath, Goliath by name, came up out of the ranks of the Philistines and spoke the same words as before. And David heard him. 24 All the men of Israel, when they saw the man, fled from him and were much afraid. 25 And the men of Israel said, “Have you seen this man who has come up? Surely he has come up to defy Israel. And the king will enrich the man who kills him with great riches and will give him his daughter and make his father’s house free in Israel.” 26 And David said to the men who stood by him, “What shall be done for the man who kills this Philistine and takes away the reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?” 27 And the people answered him in the same way, “So shall it be done to the man who kills him.” 28 Now Eliab his eldest brother heard when he spoke to the men. And Eliab’s anger was kindled against David, and he said, “Why have you come down? And with whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your presumption and the evil of your heart, for you have come down to see the battle.” 29 And David said, “What have I done now? Was it not but a word?”

Attempts on his life from Saul

On the run for years.

Feigned insanity

Lost his best friend.

Trouble with his children

Rebellion by his son Absolom

Northern tribe rebellions.

Bringing judgment upon his people.

Frailty in his closing years.

He experienced great hardship and learned through it how to bring it all to the Lord.

<See Psalm 40:11-17>

Despite acknowledging great difficulty, the psalmists held firm to their underlying confidence that God would come through for them and keep them safe.

Psalm 9:9–10 ESV

9 The Lord is a stronghold for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble. 10 And those who know your name put their trust in you, for you, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you.

Psalm 46:1 ESV

1 God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.

Since the psalms exhibit such a broad range of human emotion, we should learn from them.

God wants us to be free in what we bring to him and how we come.

After all, he knows it all already, so we don’t need to hide.

What are you struggling with right now?

Using this list, pray to the Lord, laying your heart out before him, then read some of the passages to see the answers God provides.

Handbook of Bible Prayers Honestly Expressing Our Emotions

❑ Abandonment (e.g.

<Prayer>

Song: It Is Well with My Soul (#493)

Scripture: Psalm 42:1-6 (p. 554)

Psalm 42:1–6 ESV

1 As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. 2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God? 3 My tears have been my food day and night, while they say to me all the day long, “Where is your God?” 4 These things I remember, as I pour out my soul: how I would go with the throng and lead them in procession to the house of God with glad shouts and songs of praise, a multitude keeping festival. 5 Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation 6 and my God. My soul is cast down within me; therefore I remember you from the land of Jordan and of Hermon, from Mount Mizar.

Reflection & Prayer: Ask the Questions

Sometimes, we might not have much conflict within ourselves; it is the turmoil in the world that gives our hearts pause.

Big questions that shake our faith require big answers.

But we should ask those questions expectantly.

Why is there suffering?

Some suffering is self-inflicted

The result of our actions, emotions, selfish passions, stupidity, lifestyle.

But what about other kinds: natural disasters, disease, freak accidents?

The Scripture reminds us that all suffering is rooted in human sin.

Romans 5:12 ESV

12 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned—

It pervades all of creation.

Romans 8:19–22 ESV

19 For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.

But scripture also teaches us that God is not indifferent to our suffering.

He strengthens us in it.

Psalm 86:15–17 ESV

15 But you, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness. 16 Turn to me and be gracious to me; give your strength to your servant, and save the son of your maidservant. 17 Show me a sign of your favor, that those who hate me may see and be put to shame because you, Lord, have helped me and comforted me.

He identifies with us in it.

Hebrews 2:9 ESV

9 But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.

He promises to rid the world of it.

Revelation 21:1–4 ESV

1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

Keep focused on God in the midst of suffering.

Psalm 55:22 ESV

22 Cast your burden on the Lord, and he will sustain you; he will never permit the righteous to be moved.

Why do the wicked prosper?

Jeremiah 12:1–3 ESV

1 Righteous are you, O Lord, when I complain to you; yet I would plead my case before you. Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do all who are treacherous thrive? 2 You plant them, and they take root; they grow and produce fruit; you are near in their mouth and far from their heart. 3 But you, O Lord, know me; you see me, and test my heart toward you. Pull them out like sheep for the slaughter, and set them apart for the day of slaughter.

It’s okay to be honest with God about these feelings.

Yes, our attitudes sometimes need to change.

But God promises that wickedness and the wicked will not prevail forever.

Psalm 37:1–9 ESV

1 Fret not yourself because of evildoers; be not envious of wrongdoers! 2 For they will soon fade like the grass and wither like the green herb. 3 Trust in the Lord, and do good; dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness. 4 Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. 5 Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act. 6 He will bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday. 7 Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way, over the man who carries out evil devices! 8 Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath! Fret not yourself; it tends only to evil. 9 For the evildoers shall be cut off, but those who wait for the Lord shall inherit the land.

Why was I born?

Job is an excellent example.

Job 3:3–17 ESV

3 “Let the day perish on which I was born, and the night that said, ‘A man is conceived.’ 4 Let that day be darkness! May God above not seek it, nor light shine upon it. 5 Let gloom and deep darkness claim it. Let clouds dwell upon it; let the blackness of the day terrify it. 6 That night—let thick darkness seize it! Let it not rejoice among the days of the year; let it not come into the number of the months. 7 Behold, let that night be barren; let no joyful cry enter it. 8 Let those curse it who curse the day, who are ready to rouse up Leviathan. 9 Let the stars of its dawn be dark; let it hope for light, but have none, nor see the eyelids of the morning, 10 because it did not shut the doors of my mother’s womb, nor hide trouble from my eyes. 11 “Why did I not die at birth, come out from the womb and expire? 12 Why did the knees receive me? Or why the breasts, that I should nurse? 13 For then I would have lain down and been quiet; I would have slept; then I would have been at rest, 14 with kings and counselors of the earth who rebuilt ruins for themselves, 15 or with princes who had gold, who filled their houses with silver. 16 Or why was I not as a hidden stillborn child, as infants who never see the light? 17 There the wicked cease from troubling, and there the weary are at rest.

Job struggled mighty with God, but he never cursed God as his wife wished he would.

He held on in faith until God revealed himself.

He never got the answers he wanted, but he got God’s presence and that was enough to keep going in faith.

<Pray for the suffering in the world, for those who are in need of God’s strength and comfort, and for those who are laboring in preaching the gospel so that the presence of the Lord would go into all the world.

CLOSING

Song: Great is Thy Faithfulness (#43)

Closing Prayer