How Do You Pray in Times of Suffering? (Psalms 4-7)

A Few Thoughts to Consider

How do you pray when life is hard and challenging circumstances dominate your world?

In Psalms 4-7, David wrestles with this very question. Psalm 4 is a night Psalm, while Psalm 5 is a morning one, indicating that we are to call out to God at all hours of the day. And what strikes us is the honesty and rawness of David’s cries.

In Psalm 4:1, David says, “Answer me when I call, God, who vindicates me. You freed me from affliction; be gracious to me and hear my prayer.” In Psalm 5:1, he says, “Listen to my words, LORD; consider my sighing.” In 6:2, David says, “Be gracious to me, LORD, for I am weak; heal me, LORD, for my bones are shaking.” And then in 7:1-2 David says, “LORD my God, I seek refuge in you; save me from all my pursuers and rescue me, or they will tear me like a lion, ripping me apart with no one to rescue me.”

In the words of Pastor George Robertson, “No other faith has a holy book whose writers talk to God as the psalmists do.”^[1]

Throughout the Psalms, this pattern emerges. It goes like this:

• Scream to God.
• Trust in his sovereignty.
• Rest in his goodness.

Let’s take Chapter 4, for example. David pleads with God to answer, acknowledges what God has done, and then lies down to rest. As Robert Alter writes, “Restful sleep as a restorative manifestation of the speaker’s trust in God’s protection is a recurrent motif in Psalms.”^[2]

Depending on your theological upbringing, you might struggle to follow this pattern because you were taught to err in one of two directions. Perhaps you found it easy to scream to God but never learned to trust him. Or maybe you always affirmed your trust but always suppressed your screams.

But an honest relationship with God includes a healthy mixture of screaming, trusting, and resting.

A Meditation to PRAY

Praise | Lord, thank you that I can come to you and be honest before you.

Release | I scream to you about the problems in my life that I face and confess I need your help. Without you, I am nothing.

Ask | Help me to gain your perspective today on my problems.

Yield | I will actively rest in you today.

A Challenge to Act Like Christ  

Calling out to God amid suffering is difficult. It’s painful to scream, it’s hard to trust, and sometimes it feels next to impossible to rest. But in our suffering, God is doing something wonderful. Reflecting on these Psalms, Pastor George Robertson writes:

When it resembles the Messiah’s suffering and enhances faith, suffering can actually prove that a person belongs to God (cf. 1 Pet. 1:6–12). Despite his deep grief, David’s torment drives him closer to the Lord, not farther away (Ps. 6:9). Paul will call such grief “godly” because it produces repentance (i.e., a turning to God) rather than mere regret (2 Cor. 7:10). Since they are united to Christ by faith, the suffering of believers throughout redemptive history is intimately connected with their Savior’s suffering (Ps. 22:14; Phil. 3:10). David thus provides the follower of Christ an inspired vocabulary to express his or her frustration with God’s painful providence. David also leaves a legacy of faith by demonstrating that, when we flee to God alone for mercy, our conscience finds lasting relief from the trouble of our sins (cf. Heb. 10:12–14). We lean ultimately on God’s “steadfast love” (Ps. 6:4)—love that is fulfilled in Jesus Christ.^[3]

So, if you are going through a time of suffering, do not miss the opportunity this season brings. Remember that God can take even the worst pain and use it to make you more like Christ.  

*Unless you specify otherwise, comments and questions you ask may be featured in upcoming podcast episodes.

^[1]Bryan Chapell, eds. Gospel Transformation Study Bible Notes. Accordance electronic ed. (Wheaton: Crossway, 2013), paragraph 2219.

[2] Robert Alter, The Hebrew Bible: A Translation with Commentary, The Writings, 32. 

^[3]Bryan Chapell, eds. Gospel Transformation Study Bible Notes. Accordance electronic ed. (Wheaton: Crossway, 2013), paragraph 2220.