Even when life seems to be suffocating you, PRAY!
It's important to "keep on keeping on" in prayer even if you feel as Elisabeth Eliott did (Twelve Basket of Crumbs, p.63) when she quoted the psalmist, "I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint; my heart is like wax, it is melted within my breast; my strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue clings to my jaw; thous doest lay me in the dust of the earth..." (Psalm 22:14-15) The prayer she uttered as she felt like shattered, broken pieces of pottery---"Lord, have mercy on us. Christ have mercy on us."
Elliott expressively used the words of the psalmist in her prayer. Spurgeon called Psalm 22, the "Psalm of the Cross." How appropriate for this Holy Week of 2017 for the Lord to bring me back to the truth of the One who suffered great affliction for me and my miserable condition----when my spirit seems to have melted away and I feel devoid of energy in my prayer life.
Lately, I haven't even been able to find scripture to pray for a deep wound in my heart.
But God....turned me to the prayers of others. The prayers of the Puritans...
Send Him as the searcher of my heart, to show me more of my corruption and helplessness
that I may flee to Thee,
cling to Thee,
rest on Thee...(Valley of Vision, p.23)
---until the Lord leads me to His Words to pray.....I continue to pray Elliott's prayer, "Lord, have mercy."
Elliott expressively used the words of the psalmist in her prayer. Spurgeon called Psalm 22, the "Psalm of the Cross." How appropriate for this Holy Week of 2017 for the Lord to bring me back to the truth of the One who suffered great affliction for me and my miserable condition----when my spirit seems to have melted away and I feel devoid of energy in my prayer life.
Lately, I haven't even been able to find scripture to pray for a deep wound in my heart.
But God....turned me to the prayers of others. The prayers of the Puritans...
- May His comforts cheer me in my sorrows,
- His strength sustain me in my trials,
- His blessings revive me in my weariness,
- His presence render me a fruitful tree of holiness,
- His might establish me in peace and joy,
- His incitements make me ceaseless in prayer,
- His animation kindle in my undying devotion.
Send Him as the searcher of my heart, to show me more of my corruption and helplessness
that I may flee to Thee,
cling to Thee,
rest on Thee...(Valley of Vision, p.23)
---until the Lord leads me to His Words to pray.....I continue to pray Elliott's prayer, "Lord, have mercy."
