Ever been invited over to a friend’s house for the evening and when you arrive lights blaze and your friend’s watching and greets you even before you get to the porch? Or have you arrived at another friend’s house, dark and closed up, and knock on the door to echos of silence? You notice the light change in the peephole, so you know someone’s there, and your friend cracks the door and asks, what are you doing here? To which you stammer, you invited me…

Prayer is a lot like this.

My prayer experience at times feels welcoming and encouraging, while other days more akin to approaching a dark house. David shared the same experience. On the upswing he wrote: The Lord is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble.

But on another day his experience cratered: Why, Lord, do you stand far off? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?

I’m encouraged to know David, a man after God’s own heart, shared this frustrating experience. I wish it weren’t so, and I don’t have any easy answers for why we feel this way while at prayer. I’m pretty sure, however, it has more to do with me than with the Lord.

I also notice how David, despite his frustration, returned to the Lord over and over. He closed the same psalm where he questioned God with this thought: You, Lord, hear the desire of the afflicted, you encourage them and listen to their cry.

David understood a profound truth. Even if David didn’t feel it, the Lord remained close. The Lord heard his pleas. Why did David climb up to a dark porch again and again? Because only the Lord could meet his needs. There was no where else to go.

So it is with you and me. At times we may feel alone, but we’re not. Keep knocking. Only the Lord can possibly meet your deepest needs, and so to the Lord you must go.

Psalm 9 & 10 in reading the Bible cover to cover in 2022

Photo by m wrona