Over our adult life we’ve had more than our fair share of reasons to lament and cray out to God for this reason or that. From minor inconveniences to downright hateful and egregious treatment from church members to losing a child to crime and raising a disabled child. Sometimes your heart just feels like it can’t take any more.
 
Psalm 69 gives us language for a heart overwhelmed with circumstance. The writer is sinking, eyes swollen from tears, surrounded by false accusation, and filled with a heart aching for rescue. I’ve known that feeling many times. This isn’t your garden variety tidy spirituality. It is prayer from a soul pressed under the weight of real and heavy suffering.
 
Sometimes pain doesn’t just arrive all of the sudden in one moment of torrential outpouring. It’s often slow, like rising water, and it’s often like the crashing waves of the sea, one wave of despair after another separated only by brief moments of relief. This “rising tide” surrounds our thoughts, emotions, memories, and consumes our strength. The Psalmist doesn’t minimize this fact, nor does he rush too quickly into resolution. He brings the fullness of his burden before the Lord. No quippy coffee cup statements here. Just raw pain and truth.  

That’s really important because the prophetic hope of restoration doesn’t ask us to become numb to the suffering. Biblical hope is not intellectual or emotional denial, it doesn’t pretend the pain isn’t real. It does say, “God is still my salvation in the place it hurts the most.” This passage teaches our hearts to pray honestly while still reaching for God’s faithful love to shepherd us through it.
 
This brings about in us real humility. The Psalmist knows his need. He hasn’t come to bargaining table for more strength, he is crying out in weakness. Yet, that same weakness doesn’t keep him from prayer. In fact, it becomes the very place where his prayer becomes the most honest.
 
God is not offended by the trembling voice of the hurting. He receives the prayers of those who feel like they are sinking with grace and compassion. Hope through suffering begins when the heart refuses to hide from God. We don’t need polished words. We need His faithful love and the courage to pray from the depths of our souls.

What sorrow, weariness, or fear have you been slow to bring honestly before God? How does Psalm 69 help you pray without pretending you are stronger than you are?

Father, meet me when I’m at my weakest and strengthen me there when I feel overwhelmed. Teach me to bring my entire heart to you and trust your good and merciful salvation. Amen.