PrintIntegrity In Prayer
This morning Bev and I read Psalm 44. The writer of the psalm obviously was passionate in expressing his feelings about his circumstances. I read recently that prayer is "truth speaking to truth". There's no denying the truthfulness of this man's prayer. When we conclude our prayer with, "Wake up, O Lord! Why do you sleep? Get up! Do not reject us forever. Why do you look the other way? Why do you ignore our suffering and oppression? Rise up! Help us!", that's passion!!
Sometimes I feel like God is ignoring me…that He is looking the other way and is disinterested in my plight – whatever that may be at that time. Yet I can't bring myself to address God as did the writer of Psalm 44. Maybe my sense of sometimes being ignored by God is tempered by the many promises – especially in the New Testament – to the effect that God will never leave me or forsake me.
But such promises were also known to this writer. Even so, he still launches this desperate heart-cry. Is his honest transparency a sign that he has a long way to go when it comes to mature prayer or that he is way ahead of me when it comes to integrity in prayer?
