see

Bursting into prayer confirming beyond question

Lamentations records quite a journey and something wonderful happens by chapter five. The people respond by bursting into prayer. Even if the prayer is a complaint, what matters most is that they are praying – talking to God. The channels of communication are open and therein lies the indications that healing has begun.

The prayer opens with an urgent, passionate and desperate plea.

Remember, O Lord, what has happened to us. Look at us, and see our disgrace. – Lamentations 5:1 GNT

There is no intention of impressing God, they only desire for God to hear and respond.

I am comforted to know that whenever I encounter trouble – God sees, considers and remembers what has happened to me. All I need to do, when I pray, is to recommend my situation to His gracious and compassionate consideration.

Then I follow with a prayer for restoration.

Bring us back to you. Lord! Bring us back! Restore our ancient glory. Or have you rejected us forever? Is there no limit to your anger? – Lamentations 5:21-22 GNT

I am sure that if God is not the author of my repentance, I will not properly repent. When I pray “I repent” – that is a good prayer. This one here might be a better way to pray – “Bring us back!” – asking God to give me the gift of true repentance.

“In a last brief and yet forceful word, he prayed Jehovah to turn the people unto Himself. This he introduced by a declaration of his confidence in the perpetual enthronement of Jehovah. It was a cry which recognized the last helplessness of man, namely, his inability even to repent.” – Morgan

It is a prayer for sure targeting those of us who have backslidden or seen our relationship with God decline. My prayer for repentance is so that my relationship can be restored.

It is this ability to pray that confirms beyond question that God has not and will not reject His people and His anger does not last forever.

You see, then, that the grace of the one Spirit is common to every writer and all the books of Scripture, and differs in its expression only as need requires and the Spirit wills. Obviously, therefore, the only thing that matters is for each writer to hold fast unyieldingly the grace he personally has received and so fulfil perfectly his individual mission. And, among all the books, the Psalter has certainly a very special grace, a choiceness of quality well worthy to be pondered; for, besides the characteristics which it shares with others, it has this peculiar marvel of its own, that within it are represented and portrayed in all their great variety the movements of the human soul. It is like a picture, in which you see yourself portrayed, and seeing, may understand and consequently form yourself upon the pattern given. Elsewhere in the Bible you read only that the Law commands this or that to be done, you listen to the Prophets to learn about the Saviour’s coming, or you turn to the historical books to learn the doings of the kings and holy men; but in the Psalter, besides all these things, you learn about yourself. You find depicted in it all the movements of your soul, all its changes, its ups and downs, its failures and recoveries. Moreover, whatever your particular need or trouble, from this same book you can select a form of words to fit it, so that you do not merely hear and then pass on, but learn the way to remedy your ill. Prohibitions of evil-doing are plentiful in Scripture, but only the Psalter tells you how to obey these orders and abstain from sin. Repentance, for example, is enjoined repeatedly; but to repent means to leave off sinning, and it is the Psalms that show you how to set about repenting and with what words your penitence may be expressed. Again, Saint Paul says, Tribulation worketh endurance, and endurance experience, and experience hope, and hope maketh not ashamed [Rom 5:3, 5]; but it is in the Psalms that we find written and described how afflictions should be borne, and what the afflicted ought to say, both at the time and when his troubles cease: the whole process of his testing is set forth in them and we are shown exactly with what words to voice our hope in God. Or take the commandment, In everything give thanks. [1 Thess 5:18] The Psalms not only exhort us to be thankful, they also provide us with fitting words to say. We are told, too, by other writers that all who would live godly in Christ must suffer persecution;[2 Tim 3:12] and here again the Psalms supply words with which both those who flee persecution and those who suffer under it may suitably address themselves to God, and it does the same for those who have been rescued from it. We are bidden elsewhere in the Bible also to bless the Lord and to acknowledge Him: here in the Psalms we are shown the way to do it, and with what sort of words His majesty may meetly be confessed. In fact, under all the circumstances of life, we shall find that these divine songs suit ourselves and meet our own souls’ need at every turn. – Athanasius

A different view of prayer

I read a story that I had completely forgot about regarding Jonathan and his armourbearer. The similarities to what David went through with Goliath were there. I sometimes think about what would I do and I would say if I were in a similar situation today, I would find myself in prayer instead of engaging in battle but I assume that is because these days, the battle is not in the physical world but in the spiritual.

So they let the Philistines see them, and the Philistines said, “Look! Some Hebrews are coming out of the holes they have been hiding in!” 12 Then they called out to Jonathan and the young man, “Come on up here! We have something to tell[b] you!”

Jonathan said to the young man, “Follow me. The Lord has given Israel victory over them.” 13 Jonathan climbed up out of the pass on his hands and knees, and the young man followed him. Jonathan attacked the Philistines and knocked them down, and the young man killed them. 14 In that first slaughter Jonathan and the young man killed about twenty men in an area of about half an acre. 1 Samuel 14:11-14 GNT

I believe that Jonathan saw the invitation as indicating that the battle was in God’s hand and that God would use him to fight. He trusted God and moved forward, up a difficult climb, and God sustained him until the battle was completely won. He was looking for God to give the sign and he was prepared. Prayer does that.

Let your hope keep you joyful, be patient in your troubles, and pray at all times. – Romans 12:12 GNT

I can be sharp, prepared, joying in hope and patient no matter the circumstances because of prayer. It does not matter what my circumstances are – I can pray because my hope is in Jesus. Prayer is a precious gift that God has given – it enables me to have hope and patience – especially when my eyes do not see things going well.

Many have found the traditional evangelical Quiet Time—with its emphasis on interpretive Bible study and petitionary prayer—to be too rationalistic an exercise. In response, and with desire for greater experience of God, many Protestants have turned to more Catholic and Eastern Orthodox traditions, including lectio divina, contemplative prayer, and fixed hours of liturgical prayer. – Timothy Keller