talking to God

Psalm 130The Message (MSG)

A Pilgrim Song

130 1-2 Help, God—the bottom has fallen out of my life!
    Master, hear my cry for help!
Listen hard! Open your ears!
    Listen to my cries for mercy.

What is it that is hurting right now?

talk to God about it

write / journal

tell him all about it

What is troubling?

"Casting all your care upon him

because he cares for you"

I Peter 5:7

He is not wearied by you

He is glad to listen to you 

He understands you 

the very depths of you

He knows everything about you and what is going on

He is near and waiting to hear from you

He is not deterred or disgusted by your weakness

your problems

your weakness and lack

your wrong choices

3-4 If you, God, kept records on wrongdoings,
    who would stand a chance?
As it turns out, forgiveness is your habit,
    and that’s why you’re worshiped.

Is there anything you want to confess to Him?

"If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us

and cleanse us from all unrighteousness."  I John 1:9

Worship Him:

He longs to forgive

longs to renew

longs to restore

longs to bring healing and hope

peace and love

to any one 

ANY ONE

Write what you are seeing of God now?

5-6 I pray to God—my life a prayer—
    and wait for what he’ll say and do.
My life’s on the line before God, my Lord,
    waiting and watching till morning,
    waiting and watching till morning.

Talk / Write / Pray

What is on your heart?

What are you concerned about?

What would you like to talk to God about?

He is patient

He is kind and compassionate

He is merciful and understanding

He cares for you

7-8 O Israel, wait and watch for God—
    with God’s arrival comes love,
    with God’s arrival comes generous redemption.
No doubt about it—he’ll redeem Israel,
    buy back Israel from captivity to sin.

Praise Him 

He will work 

I may not see how until I go to be with Him

but I know who He is and I know He is working

I can rest in that

Amen

The Message (MSG)

Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson

Talking to God out of the depths

Psalm 130The Message (MSG)

A Pilgrim Song

130 1-2 Help, God—the bottom has fallen out of my life!
    Master, hear my cry for help!
Listen hard! Open your ears!
    Listen to my cries for mercy.

3-4 If you, God, kept records on wrongdoings,
    who would stand a chance?
As it turns out, forgiveness is your habit,
    and that’s why you’re worshiped.

5-6 I pray to God—my life a prayer—
    and wait for what he’ll say and do.
My life’s on the line before God, my Lord,
    waiting and watching till morning,
    waiting and watching till morning.

7-8 O Israel, wait and watch for God—
    with God’s arrival comes love,
    with God’s arrival comes generous redemption.
No doubt about it—he’ll redeem Israel,
    buy back Israel from captivity to sin.

The Message (MSG)

Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson

"Out of the depths I cry unto you..." Psalm 130:1 KJV

This is the cry of the psalmist and it echoes the cry of our my own heart

God does not ask me to pray politely or even properly

He welcomes the deep cry of my heart

He does not tell me to try to be strong 

to keep my emotions at bay

He welcomes me 

He invites me to come 
and be known and loved 
when I am at my lowest and worst

"God is near to all who call upon him

to all who call upon him in truth" Psalm 145:18 NIV


Truth

God is true 

to come to him 

I must come in truth

I do not need to try to cover up or hide what is not hidden to Him

He already knows the truth

about me

the depth of my need

what I do wrong

what I think and feel that is not loving or kind or positive

this is all painfully clear to him

when I am willing to be honest about these things as well

He is there

Forgiveness

If you, God, kept records on wrongdoings,
    who would stand a chance?
As it turns out, forgiveness is your habit,
    and that’s why you’re worshiped. Psalm 130:3-4

God is both ruthlessly honest 

and kind, understanding and merciful and forgiving

He is not like anyone else I know

I do not need to pretend I am anything other than who I truly am

Knowing the depth of my great need

He sent His only and greatly beloved Son, Jesus Christ

to make a way for me to know and be known by him

to have a relationship with Him that is not based on anything I am or could do

A relationship based entirely upon who He is and what he has already done

That’s what Christ did definitively: suffered because of others’ sins, the Righteous One for the unrighteous ones. He went through it all—was put to death and then made alive—to bring us to God.  I Peter 3:18 The Message

18 Christ himself died for you. And that one death paid for your sins. He was not guilty, but he died for those who are guilty. He did this to bring you all to God. His body was killed, but he was made alive in the spirit. I Peter 3:18 ICB

Wonder 

If I am being honest with myself and God 
and I am willing to hear and absorb the truth He presents to me 
through His words in the Bible

I will come to worship

because He is amazing and wonderful 

completely beyond all I can imagine and even comprehend

Whatever my circumstances or state

He wants to be known

He wants to be near to me

He wants to bring me near to Him


Deep calls to Deep

This psalm is evidence that I can begin to express and articulate my pain

my anger 

my sadness

my bitterness and discontent

whatever is in the depths

may be cried out

to Him

In any circumstance or state

I can come to Him 

and commune with Him in the depths of my being

Deep calls unto deep

When the pain is prolonged

is intricate and tangled and complex

and has no clear or immediate trajectory of change

I can come again and again to Him to pour out my soul 

to articulate and put into words all that I am feeling and thinking


Talking to Him

Talk to God in the pain

the bewilderment

the loss

the grief

the disappointment

the anger

the sadness

This psalm is given to show us how to pray 

God is near to the crushed 

and the broken

We can cry out to God from the depths of our being

in the depths of our pain 

When my heart is overwhelmed

lead me to the rock that is higher than I Psalm 61:2 KJV

Psalm 61:2Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)

2 I call to You from the ends of the earth
when my heart is without strength.
Lead me to a rock that is high above me,

He is that rock

that alone is secure and unchanging

all else is transitory and fleeting


Trust

I pray to God—my life a prayer—
    and wait for what he’ll say and do.
My life’s on the line before God, my Lord,
    waiting and watching till morning,
    waiting and watching till morning. Psalm 130:5-6 

It is a very painful to truth to realize
      that I am completely powerless
      to effect deep lasting change 
     and transformation
     in myself or any one else 


my life a prayer


what else is there but to keep baring my soul to God
to keep talking with Him
to be in relationship with Him

to trust Him to work his amazing work

in ways I cannot now see or understand now

but I can know Him
in the midst 

not watching what is distressing me
but watching for Him
waiting for Him to do what I cannot

What He is doing is inviting me into a relationship with Him
right here and now
where I am today

Weeping may endure for a night
but joy comes in the morning. Psalm 30:5 KJV

5 His anger lasts only a moment.
    But his kindness lasts for a lifetime.
Crying may last for a night.
    But joy comes in the morning.

Psalm 30:5 ICB

those who trust in Him are not put to shame in the end

Hope

O Israel, wait and watch for God—

    with God’s arrival comes love,

    with God’s arrival comes generous redemption.

No doubt about it—he’ll redeem Israel,

    buy back Israel from captivity to sin. Psalm 130: 7-8

Yes, Lord, 

help me to watch for you

you want to redeem and recover

you want to free me from all that I cannot free myself 

you want to give me Yourself

with your arrival comes love into the depths of my being
and through me into this situation 
this relationship

changing me from the inside out

Praise you O Lord!

What I am Learning about Prayer

1. Surrounded by deep and real need,  I really am totally helpless and powerless to affect change of any kind.   I cannot make one hair white or black, I cannot change even my own heart and perspective and I cannot heal or comfort or change another person in any real way.
This is profoundly painful and disconcerting but is the beginning of turning to God as a lifestyle of prayer in every situation and need.

7 The time is near when all things will end. So keep your minds clear, and control yourselves. Then you will be able to pray.  I Peter 4:7

Keeping this truth in front of me that I can truly do nothing keeps me in a place where I can pray. When I am filled with worry and all that I think I can do, I find I do not pray.


2.  Prayer is powerful because I can bare my soul before God.  It is the opportunity to know and be known in a loving relationship with a caring Father. This relationship is the one and only place where I am truly understood and heard.  He wants us to talk with him and open our hearts to him and reassure us He is with us. Prayer is the ongoing conversation with Him who loves us.

:Casting all your care upon him because he cares for you.  I Peter 5:7

3.  Prayer does not have to be positive in tone While knowing and believing God is good and is working good,and that he knows what he is doing, there is also active evil and sin working devastation all around.  The psalms are an example of the full range of the human experience being expressed to God.


41 Then Jesus went about a stone’s throw away from them. He kneeled down and prayed, 42 “Father, if it is what you want, then let me not have this cup[d] of suffering. But do what you want, not what I want.” 43 Then an angel from heaven appeared to him to help him. 44 Jesus was full of pain; he prayed even more. Sweat dripped from his face as if he were bleeding.  Luke 22

In this passage, Jesus says he is sorrowful, even to the point of death.  He prayed repeatedly and with strong emotion.  It is okay to pray in great pain and sadness. 

4.  It helps me to focus on coming to God rather than knowing what to say.  Prayer is coming to the God of truth and so I can be truthful and truly say what I am thinking and is on my heart.  God wants to engage in honest dialogue with me and does not reject me for saying what is true even when it is unpleasant.

18 The Lord is near to all who call upon Him,
To all who call upon Him in truth.  Psalm 145:18 NKJV

19 Brothers and sisters, we are not afraid to enter the Most Holy Room. We enter boldly because of the blood of Jesus. 20 His way is new because he lives. It has been opened for us through the curtain. I’m talking about his body. 21 We also have a great priest over the house of God. 22 So let us come near to God with a sincere heart. Let us come near boldly because of our faith. Our hearts have been sprinkled. Our minds have been cleansed from a sense of guilt. Our bodies have been washed with pure water.  Hebrews 10:19-22 NIRV

15 For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.  Hebrews 4:15 KJV

5.  It is not about me trying to get to God but about not turning away from him who is seeking me

1 Peter 3:18New International Reader's Version (NIRV)

18 Christ also suffered once for sins. The one who did what is right suffered for those who don’t do right. He suffered to bring you to God.