30 Days of Praying for Children and Familiesনমুনা

“How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever?

How long will you hide your face from me?” (Psalm 13:1, NIV)

The book of Psalms teaches us to pray honestly. Psalm 13 is a lament, the most common type of psalm.

These six verses take use through complaint (verses 1-2, NIV), reasons God should do something (verses 3-4, NIV), and resolution, “But I trust in your unfailing love...” (verses 5-6, NIV).

These are not easy steps: there could be a long gap between verses 4 and 5, and before long, the Psalmist is back in lament again.

But what a gift it is that God takes our questions, confusion, and pain seriously! Psalms give us permission to come to God in all honesty, pouring out our whole selves to him: our own pain but also our distress at what others are going through.

Being a parent or carer isn’t easy. God invites us to bring him our frustrations, difficulties, and failures to him.

He is big enough to take the frustration, confusion, and even anger we bring to him in prayer; after all, he knows all this stuff anyway.

Prayer

As you prepare a meal today, or wander the aisles of a supermarket, take a moment to pray.

Pray that God would take the little you have to offer and multiply it. Pray that he would show you the need in your community.

Pray for the families who are going hungry in your neighbourhood – that God would provide food to nourish them, and you might have opportunity to share his living water with them.

Perhaps there are people in your life or those you are supporting who are facing unjust situations. Families for whom life just seems to knock them down again and again. It is relentless and deeply unfair.

Perhaps you’re experiencing a season of life that feels like everything is stacked against you.

Circumstances that make you want to scream, ‘How long, Lord?’

Take some time to lament now. Cry out to God, share the depths of how you feel with him, and ask him to act.

Once you’ve cried out to God, read verse 5 again and say to God, ‘I trust in your unfailing love.’