September 6, 2025 -- Psalm 13:1 -- Praying when one's heart is broken

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How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever?                           
Psalm 13:1 ESV
 
There are times when I can speak with men on the inside, and when they feel safe enough to share, make statements like this: “I feel like God is distant”. Or they’ll say, “I am so alone. Is God here?” Then they’ll look at me, questioningly. Having been vulnerable enough to share this, they wonder, will Richard reject me for sharing this?
 
Blessed be our God and Savior! He has gifted us with the Psalms. These prayers capture the honest upheavals, the troubles, and the ranges of emotions with which each of us grapples. What the men were afraid to express has been put into words many centuries ago. David, called a man after God’s own heart (I Samuel 13:14), experienced times of such profound separation from God that he cried out with these words. The Spirit of God, ever gracious and the comforter of believers, preserved these words so that believers in all ages, know they have the freedom to pour out their hearts to God.
 

  • Sometimes such devastating separation from God lasts a season. Do not give up. Pray this whole psalm.

  • Sometimes the pain which wrenches these words from the soul and lips is brief and intense, pray this psalm with the confidence the LORD hears.

  • Sometimes the tidal wave of troubles and griefs are so great, words fail, pray this psalm.

 
Trust that God has appointed these words, so long ago, for His saints through-out the ages. He has offered them to you so that you can walk in wholeness before Him. Not pretending. Not saying fine when everything is a mess. But honesty, with vulnerability bare your circumstances, your heart and your pain to Him knowing He will hear you. In another Psalm, the promise is that God will not despise a broken heart (Psalm 51:17).

How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever?
    How long will you hide your face from me?
2 How long must I take counsel in my soul
    and have sorrow in my heart all the day?
How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?
3 Consider and answer me, O Lord my God;
    light up my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death,
4 lest my enemy say, “I have prevailed over him,”
    lest my foes rejoice because I am shaken.
5 But I have trusted in your steadfast love;
    my heart shall rejoice in your salvation.
6 I will sing to the Lord,
    because he has dealt bountifully with me.
Psalm 13 ESV
https://youtu.be/QcGGlBHxTfk?si=f1fV8QQtBLfy8K1S Hear Our Prayer, O Lord
 

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