Crying Out In Brokenness
By Joan Walker Hahn
Monday, April 9, 2018
“Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise Him, my Savior and my God.” Psalm 42:5 NIV
Have you ever been brokenhearted? It’s not something we like to feel. It’s not something we like talking about. But unfortunately, we do experience brokenness in this fallen world.
I love reading the Psalms of David. So many of them are filled with nothing but praise and worship of God for who He is and for what He has done. But there are many of the Psalms where David is crying out, broken-hearted before his Lord.
He cried out when his enemies were pursuing him. He cried out when he was betrayed by his son. He cried out because of sin he committed. He cried out to God when he felt all alone.
There were times when David felt God was far away and didn’t hear his pleas.
He cried out in Psalm 13:1-2 NIV: “How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and day after day have sorrow in my heart? How long will my enemy triumph over me?”
But he was saying by Psalm 13:5-6 NIV: “But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation. I will sing the Lord’s praise, for he has been good to me.”
David cried out in Psalm 6:6,“I am worn out from my groaning. All night long I flood my bed with weeping and drench my couch with tears.”
But by verse 8-9, David said,“Away from me, all you who do evil, for the Lord has heard my weeping. The Lord has heard my cry for mercy; the Lord accepts my prayer.”
There are also times when we can’t even put our pain into words to cry out to God.
However, we are assured that the Holy Spirit that lives in us will pray for us. “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.” Romans 8:26 NIV
I once experienced that verse. My heart was hurting so bad that the only words I could say were, “Oh, God! Oh, God!”
But those words, coming from my broken heart reached the ears of my Father. I felt God’s spirit wrapping His arms around me, picking me up, and just holding me.
David was faithful to praise God even in the midst of his pain. That’s not an easy thing to do. The Apostle Paul knew pain. Imprisoned, beaten, shipwrecked – in every situation, Paul said to give thanks.
“Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 NIV
Give thanks? What is there to be thankful for when the pain is so unbearable that it’s hard to take the next breath?
Giving praise and thanks to God doesn’t always mean that He takes us out of the situation causing the pain. We still may have to endure the circumstances we are going through. But praising God even in the midst of that pain somehow eases the burden.
In some unexplainable way, we find the strength to keep going, to keep breathing. We keep trusting that God’s plan is being fulfilled. We have faith that we will get through whatever we are enduring.
Are you experiencing pain right now? No matter the reason, whether it is attacks from our enemies, betrayal of someone we trusted, sin we have committed, or depression pulling us down – we can cry out to God.
He knows our pain. He knows every aspect of our circumstances. He’s just waiting for us to call on Him. Like David and his Psalms, we will have songs of praise in our heart mixed with the songs of pain. But the songs of pain can end in rejoicing as we cry out to our Lord.
Heavenly Father, I pray the say prayer that David prayed in Psalm 51:10-12:
“Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.” Thank You Father. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
© 2018 by Joan Walker Hahn. All rights reserved.
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Originally published Monday, 09 April 2018.
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