A Norvell Note for March 22, 2021
Vol. 23 No. 12
When You Struggle to Pray
A prayer for those days when you don’t know what or how to pray:
All-knowing Lord, you see what is in my heart. All-powerful Lord, I don’t have the power to accomplish what needs to be done, so I spread out my requests before you. All-wise Lord, I know you hear and will act—but I know also I must wait on your wise timing, and so I will. Amen.[i]
Do you ever have days when you need to pray this prayer?
Maybe it is a day when you have so much to do that you know you will never get it all done, but you don’t have a choice. Maybe it one of those days when your mind is so full you can’t think, you can’t relax, and you can’t rest. You try to explain what you are feeling, but you can’t. You hear people talking, but you can’t make sense of their words.
You go about your daily activities without passion, energy, or joy. You open the Scriptures for wisdom and inspiration. You close them without finding either. You decide to pray but have no words. So, “you spread out your requests before” the Lord. You trust that He hears you and will act, and you know you must wait for His timing.
I’ve had several days like that in my life, and especially in the last year. What can I say, how do I pray, what can I do? How am I supposed to feel? What am I feeling?
During times like this, I am grateful for the Spirit of God who steps in to speak what is in my heart.
In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God. (Romans 8:26-27, NIV)
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[i] Excerpt from The Songs of Jesus: A Year of Daily Devotions in the Psalms by Timothy Keller and Kathy Keller