Morning by Morning—Daily Prayer Journey with Tommy Hays: Freedom to be Real and Raw in our Prayers

Monday, April 27, 2020

Freedom to be Real and Raw in our Prayers - Morning by Morning, April 27, 2020

Morning by Morning, April 27 - Freedom to be Real and Raw in our Prayers

Good morning, Lord Jesus. As best as I can and all by Your grace, I humble my heart so I can hear Yours -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit of God. ...

In days that can feel a little bit like these days, the Psalmist cried out to You in frustration and hurt from his feelings of isolation and judgment: "You have taken from me my closest friends.... I am confined and cannot escape!" (Psalm 88:8 NLT)

Sounds like he was in a season of social-distancing, under quarantine, and sheltered-in-place. Sounds like he was feeling more like a victim than victorious, more like being overcome and being an overcomer, defeated and not determined, more like being beneath and not above, the tail and not the head. Sounds like it felt like his world was upside down, out of his hands and out of control. So in the honesty of prayer, he just needed some time to get these words out of his mouth so he could get them out of his spirit.

He speaks of feeling "helpless and desperate" (v. 15), "overwhelmed" (v. 16), "paralyzed" by "terrors" (v. 16), "engulfed" by "floodwaters" (v. 17) like "wave after wave" (v.7). He speaks of his questions that don't seem to be answered and his prayers that don't seem to be heard (v. 9). He questions Your wisdom and motives (v. 10). He even finishes his prayer with the mournful expression, "Darkness is my closest friend" (v. 18).

If there was ever a place in the Bible that gave us permission to be real and raw in our prayers, to be unflinchingly honest with all our our feelings and frustrations, all our hurts and disappointed hopes and dealings with despair, surely this is it!

But what frees him to be so honest with You, so freely expressive in his prayers of lament and cries of injustice and railings against all that seems wrong in his world, is the simple truth sealed in his heart at the very beginning of his prayer: "O Lord, God of my salvation, I cry out to You by day. I come to You at night" (v. 1).

You're not the God of our destruction. You're the God of our salvation. You're not a god who is distant, blind, and uncaring. You're the God who invites us to cry out to You by day and come to You by night. You're not a god who gets offended by our questions and retaliates against our honest expression of raw emotions and deep frustrations. You're the God helps us get it up and get it out and so we can give it over to You.

With all that's going on in our world and all that's going on in our hearts, You're the God who is with us and the God who will get us through this. Thank You for the freedom to express our frustrations along the way. And thank You for the grace we don't have to get stuck in that place, but we can openly and honestly give it all to You. We can get it up and get it out and give it all to You -- "O Lord, God of (our) salvation!" In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays

My friend, may you be free to be real and raw in all your prayers and all you're feeling from all we're going through in our world right now -- getting it up and getting it out and giving it all to the God of our salvation, in Jesus' name. And my you let Him replace all that with His simple truth and assurance of His Presence sealed in your heart. Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend!