#DailyDevotion When We’re Worn Out From Praying
Psalm 143 7Answer me quickly, O LORD — my spirit wears out with longing. Don’t hide Your face from me, or I’ll be like those who went down to the grave. 8In the morning let me hear about Your kindness, because I trust You. Teach me the way I should go, because I long for You. 9Rescue me from my enemies, O LORD — I hide in You. 10Teach me to do what you want – You are my God. May Your good Spirit lead me on even ground. 11For Your name’s sake, O LORD, give me a new life. You are righteous – get me out of trouble. 12You are kind — silence my enemies, and destroy all who trouble me, because I am Your servant.
David continues down the path of the previous verses of the psalm. Don’t we all want the LORD to answer our prayers quickly. As David notes, “my spirit wears out with longing.” When we are in deep distress and pray continuously as we wait for the answer from the LORD, are not our spirits worn out as well? Jesus in his long nights of praying in desolate places and in the Garden demonstrate His own need as one who shares our human nature for an answer from His Father. He knows what it is like to pray in this manner.
Does it seem as if God is hiding His face from you when you pray? David requests the LORD to not hide His face from him lest he be a dead man. We too should desire the LORD to shine His face upon us so we may be strengthened and uplifted by it. We turn our problems and complaints to the LORD in the evening and we wait for the morning to see the answer to our prayers come to fruition. We expect an answer from the LORD because like David, we have put our trust in Him due to His promise to hear and answer our prayers.
Verses 10 and 11 have an important theme. We cannot be His people, His children by our own works, thoughts, efforts and will. We need the LORD to teach us what He wants. We learn this as we open His book and read and when we listen to His pastors who teach us. Will we be like rocks to sound just bounces off of or will we allow the Word to have its way with us? We need the LORD to give us a new life for His name’s sake. We need Him to create in us a new heart and an upright spirit to learn when He teaches us and to believe and do what He teaches us. He does this through His Word and His Sacraments. We should engage with them as often as possible. God’s Word in and God’s Word out. David asks to be led on even ground. His immediate context in the battlefield may be actual even ground, but he is probably borrowing from that in the context of his current struggles with his enemies that the LORD would clear the path for His actions as he interacts with them so he doesn’t do something to trip himself up. It would do well for us in dealing with others to ask the LORD to clear the way for us as well so we don’t take a bad situation and make it worse but rather have us be instruments of His will in bringing true peace to any situation.
Finally, David asks the LORD to defeat his enemies. We must realize he is dealing with people who oppose his anointing to be king by actually seeking his life. As Christians I think we pray this so the destruction of our enemies are not necessarily looking for their physical destruction but that the LORD would convert them so they would cease being our enemies and be our friends instead. If they become our friends, won’t our enemies be defeated and destroyed? The basis for this petition is he is the LORD’s servant. We too, in our baptisms, have become the LORD’s servants, slaves of God’s righteousness. He has put His name on us. We belong to Him. It is good to remind the LORD of this, not for His sake (He knows) but for our own sake and conscience.
Merciful God and Father, teach and lead us in all Your ways, even our paths so we more easily follow Your Son, Jesus Christ in all His ways and finally overcome all that opposes us from being faithful in serving You. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
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