Help Me in Distress

Today we look at a simple prayer from three thousand years ago. David’s life had lots of ups - and lots of downs. In the midst of one of those downs he wrote this:

Answer me when I call to you, my God of justice. Give me relief from my distress; have mercy on me and hear my prayer. - Psalm 4:1

Does it strike you as strange that David starts off this prayer with a demand that God answer him? I can’t help be think that David was feeling, well, unanswered. No doubt David is in distress - that’s plain from the text. And it would appear that David had already asked for God to deliver him.

But that answer was not forthcoming.

This makes me think of another person praying, this time in a garden called Gethsemane. If you remember, Jesus went off and spent time praying “the same thing” three times in a row (see Matthew 26:44). Was once not enough? Did God not hear?

Let’s all be honest about the fact that for whatever reason, some of our prayers don’t seem to get through - or if they do, they don’t seem to generate much of a response.

But let’s also be honest that there’s no other way through our distress than to find strength in God, even when it does not look the way we want it to. As one earnest seeker once said, “The alternative to disappointment with God seems to be disappointment without God” (Philip Yancey, Disappointment With God).

Sit with these somewhat uncomfortable thoughts for a minute. See if you might be able to turn your thoughts into a prayer.