DESPONDENT? CALL HIM UP!

A prayer for help when feeling despondent. Heman is a man identified in 1 Kings 4:31 as a gifted wise man and in 1 Chronicles 15:16-19 as one of the musically gifted Levites who ministered in worship during the time of David.

Even amid despair, Heman confesses his faith in God’s saving goodness. Heman’s life had not been an easy one and now it had grown even more difficult, and he felt that death was very near.

But he did not give up! He still trusted in God, whom he addressed as “LORD”—Jehovah four times in this prayer. He was fervent in his praying. He believed in a God who would hear his prayers and do wonders, a God who loved him and was faithful to His people. All of this is evidence of faith in Heman’s heart, even though he spoke as though he was ready to give up.  He prayed day and night and trusted that no obstacle would come between his prayers and the LORD.

When we come before the LORD in prayer, we must be completely transparent when we pray and not tell the LORD anything that is not true or that we do not mean. How can you lie to the One that sees all and knows all? 

When this man prayed, he confessed that he was “full of troubles” and felt that he was “counted with those who go down to the pit,” the dead in their graves. He felt forgotten by the LORD, all his strength was gone. Have you ever felt like your back was against the wall and had fallen into the deepest of wells? All around you is darkness except for at the top of the well all you could see was a bit of sky above. Encircled by walls that felt as if they were closing in, you look up toward the opening and ask God, where are You?

Like Job, Heman wanted to know why all this suffering had come to him.  But he continued to pray and to look to God for help! This is what we must do when in times of trouble, look up and remember God is still there. He will never leave you nor forsake you. Remember Job 13:15, “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him”; and one of my favorites “I would have lost heart, unless I had not believed that I would see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.  Wait on the LORD; be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart; wait, I say, on the LORD!” from Ps. 27:13, 14.  

So, if ever feeling despondent remember God will never leave you nor forsake you. Trust Him where you can’t trace Him. We should never doubt in the darkness what God has taught us in the light.

Blessings,

Presiding Elder Barbara Hayes

GWFT | WBS | HSB | https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/barbara375/episodes/DESPONDENT–CALL-HIM-UP-e2ero92