A Prayer about When God Seems Silent

by | Oct 18, 2022 | Daily Prayer, Grief, Prayer, Suffering

A Prayer about When God Seems Silent

To you, O Lord, I call; my rock, do not be deaf to me, For if you are silent to me, I will become like those who go down to the pit. Psalm 28:1

Merciful God,

We beg you, do not be silent. 

Hear our prayers, 

and speak your gracious response. 

We confess, at times, 

we feel we have prayed and prayed and prayed, 

maybe about a loved one’s illness or our own, 

about the need for a job, 

or about the longing for a spouse or a child or a loved one’s salvation, 

and we think we’re listening, 

but we hear nothing. 

We urge you, 

“Hear the voice of our pleas for mercy, 

when we cry to you for help, 

when we lift our hands 

toward your most holy sanctuary” (Ps. 28:2). 

Lord, thank you for the thousands of words 

you’ve given us in your Word 

that answer us 

when we can’t hear the answer in our lives. 

Your Word gives voice to our lament. 

Your Word reminds us 

that you are always “the strength of your people…

the saving refuge of your anointed.” 

Because of your Word become flesh, 

our Savior Jesus, 

we have heard an answer to all of our prayers, 

“It is finished” (John 19:30). 

You have taken us for your own, 

and one day, we will be with you, 

and our desperate need for an answer 

will slip away in the sound of your welcoming voice.

In Jesus’ hope-giving name. Amen.

Read Psalm 28. 

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A Prayer about the Impossible Woman

by | Oct 17, 2022 | Daily Prayer, Gospel living, kingdom living

A Prayer about the Impossible Woman

Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised. Proverbs 31:30

Jesus, our True Wisdom,

We thank you for your Holy Spirit, 

who gives us wisdom 

to understand life 

and to understand 

that this woman in Proverbs 31 is meant to be an ideal, 

a composite of various features 

that make a godly woman. 

As I was reading about her the other day, 

I thought of the high expectations placed on women in American culture: 

we are often expected to have highly successful careers 

while at the same time being highly successful mothers 

raising highly successful children. 

Lord, we pray for women in our world, 

that we might turn away from both cultural expectations 

and some supposedly Christian expectations 

that are not your expectations. 

Help us not to worry too much about charm and beauty, 

or other things that will fade away.

Help us to be wise women, 

and to know what work you have called us to do, 

whether that be 

running a business (Proverbs. 31: 18), 

being a realtor (Prov. 31:16), 

sewing quilts (Prov. 31:22), 

or raising children (Prov. 31:27). 

Help us to clothe ourselves in strength and dignity, 

not in comparison and competition. 

Help us, most of all, 

to live in awe and gratitude of you, 

to “fear the Lord,” 

to enjoy you and glorify you 

as the women you have called us to be. 

In your gracious name. Amen.

Read Proverbs 31.

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A Prayer about Being a New Parent

by | Oct 16, 2022 | Daily Prayer, Parenting, Prayer

A Prayer about Being a New Parent

Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward. Psalm 127:3

Gracious Father,

With one grandson born in February 

and two more grand babies on the way any day now, 

I’m frequently thinking about the early days of parenting.

Parenting new little ones or new big ones 

is such a whirlwind, 

and we lift these new parents up to you.

New parents are filled with awe at these creations, 

and they know that children are indeed a “reward,” 

a gift, a kindness, an undeserved blessing from you. 

New parents marvel that you would choose them 

to steward your gift of a precious child. 

And at the same time, 

new parents can be overwhelmed by the responsibility. 

Oh, Lord, have mercy on these new parents. 

Help them to remember the truth, 

“Unless the Lord builds the house, 

those who build it labor in vain” (Psalm 127:1). 

Help them to know that they are never alone 

in this parenting process, 

that as surely as you gave them children, 

you will love them, nurture them, and teach them, 

as the good good Father that you are. 

Help these new parents to make it a habit 

to turn to you 

when they don’t know what to do, 

and show them the way by your Spirit. 

Help these new parents to seek you 

when they can’t figure out 

how to get their jobs done 

and be the parents they want to be. 

Help them to know 

that parenting is frequently about learning to be your child, 

to depend on you as we never have before. 

In the name of your Son, our Savior, we pray. Amen.

Read Psalm 127. 

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A Prayer about the Saddest Verse in the Bible

by | Oct 15, 2022 | Daily Prayer, Death and Resurrection, Gospel living

A Prayer about the Saddest Verse in the Bible

Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths. Genesis 3:7

Lord God,

These are some of the most painful verses in the whole Bible 

(right up there with Jesus agonizing in the garden and dying on the cross). 

Just a few verses before, we were told, 

“The man and his wife were both naked and not ashamed” (Genesis 2:25). 

You had created them in your image, 

formed their exquisite bodies from the dust, 

giving Adam just the perfect complement he needed. 

And now, in one instant, as Adam stood silently by 

while Eve listened to the words of the serpent, 

the man and the woman had committed treachery. 

They had turned against you, 

doubting your goodness and generosity to them. 

Forever, they would know shame, 

and their descendants with them. 

Today, we feel it, the shame of sin, 

and shame over our bodies. 

Like Adam and Eve, 

we often reach for frail fig leaves 

in efforts to cover our shame, 

but we know they can’t fully cover us, 

and besides, they wither and dry up and fall apart. 

Like Adam and Eve, we often try to hide from you. 

What wretched people we would be if not for your pursuing love!

You refused to leave Adam and Eve 

lurking in the bushes; 

neither do you leave us there. 

You cleansed us from our sin through Christ’s death; 

you sent us the covering of Christ’s righteousness, 

which we wear now as your new creation in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17-21). 

By your mercy, 

we are freed from living in the shadows of shame. 

By your mercy, 

we can celebrate again the bodies you have given us. 

In Jesus’ atoning name. Amen. 

Read Genesis 2:24-3:7; 2 Corinthians 5:17-21. 

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A Prayer about How to Not Grumble

by | Oct 14, 2022 | Daily Prayer, gratitude, Joy

A Prayer about How to Not Grumble

Do all things without grumbling or arguing, that you may be blameless and pure…Philippians 2:14

Generous Father,

A few days ago, 

I noticed a lot of grumbling and arguing 

swimming around in my soul. 

The driver of the twenty-year-old land yacht 

changed lanes without warning, 

the rain soaked my shoes, 

and my roasted chicken refused to be done. 

In such days, 

draw my heart to the 

uncomplaining, 

undisputing, 

unrelenting love of Jesus.

Did Jesus ever say to you and the Spirit, 

“Why do I have to be the one to die for these unworthy sinners?” 

No. He did not.

Even though he was “in the form of God, 

he did not consider equality with God 

a thing to be grasped, 

emptying himself, becoming a servant…” 

He went all the way to the cross, 

and as I read the story, 

I don’t hear him grumbling once. 

He lamented in the garden, yes. But he did not argue. 

The truly astonishing thing is that 

we can “have the same mind of Christ” 

when we trust in him, 

because we are in him, 

and he is in us. 

Not only that, 

when we do things without grumbling or arguing, 

we are living into the blamelessness and innocence 

we received through Christ. 

Not only that, when we do things 

without grumbling or arguing, 

we “shine as lights in the world” 

“in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation” — 

we are little lighthouses 

pointing the way in the darkness to Jesus, 

“the light of all mankind.”

What a story! What a Savior! 

By your Spirit, 

may praise and singing and encouragement 

and kindness slip easily from our tongues today!

In Jesus’ uncomplaining name. Amen. 

Read Philippians 2:1-18.