(Note: St. Augustine is famous for writing a book called “The Confessions,” which he wrote completely as a prayer to God. In the same spirit, I plan to write these posts as a prayer to God.)
“Turn, LORD, and deliver me; save me because of your unfailing love. Among the dead no one proclaims your name. Who praises you from the grave? I am worn out from my groaning. All night long I flood my bed with weeping and drench my couch with tears. My eyes grow weak with sorrow; they fail because of all my foes.” (Psalm 6:4–7, NIV)
Turn, LORD, and deliver me; save me because of your unfailing love.
Heavenly Father, we need you to turn your face back toward us and deliver us. Father, we need you to save us from ourselves. We look around at our country right now. We see violent, angry, hateful, divisive, prideful, rebellious hearts overflowing in every direction. Each side of the division cursing and screaming at each other, refusing to listen—refusing to care. We need you, Lord. Come. Turn to us and deliver us.
Father, we ask you to deliver us because of YOUR unfailing love. We know we don’t deserve your salvation. The only thing we bring to our salvation is our sinfulness. We don’t deserve to be saved. Yet, we know you are a faithful God who overflows in steadfast love and kindness and mercy. So, Father, we look to you. We appeal to your mercy to come and save us. Save our country form ourselves and our depravity.
We need you, Father. We cannot save ourselves. We may try over and over and over again, but we cannot do it. We are not strong enough nor smart enough to save ourselves. Every time we try to save ourselves, we fall into a trap of our own making—needing to be saved from our attempt to save ourselves. We need you, the one and only Savior, to come and deliver us from this pit. Come, Lord Jesus.
Among the dead no one proclaims your name. Who praises you from the grave?
Father, I know that those who trust in you will praise you for all eternity. All who have been saved by Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection will continue to praise you after their death. Yet, Father, you’ve also told us to shout your praise throughout the earth. You’ve called us to praise you so that others’ hearts may be stirred to praise you as well. We cannot do that once we’re dead and gone. Graveyards are silent places.
So, Father, this is why we need you to save us—so we would praise and glorify you. Once you save us, we can proclaim your glory and power and might and mercy to the nations. The floodgates of praise will open and we will shout so loudly that everyone will hear of your glory. So, Father, we ask you to save us so we can more fully praise you and draw the nations into that praise.
I am worn out from my groaning. All night long I flood my bed with weeping and drench my couch with tears. My eyes grow weak with sorrow; they fail because of all my foes.
Father, this is exhausting. We’re all tired. We’re worn out from all the anger. We’re worn out from the hatred. We’re work out from the animosity, division, and fighting. We’re worn out from the injustice all around us. Please give us strength.
Father, we continue to weep and mourn and lament over what we see. We weep over innocent lives lost. We weep over the widespread destruction. We weep over the hatred and anger. We weep and weep and weep over the injustice. Please, Father, provide us comfort.
Father, it’s hard to watch people live and act like this. Father, it’s hard to know how to respond. We get so worn out from everything that it’s hard to see things clearly. There are troubles and problems all around us. We don’t know where to start. We don’t know what to do. But we know that we can always turn to You—our Savior. So, Father, help clear up our vision to see more clearly—not as the world sees, but as You see—and give us wisdom to know where to start, and give us strength and courage to take the first step.
We trust you, Father, and we look to you for salvation as we take steps moving forward in faith.