I am reading a book right now that is challenging me to diver deeper into my prayer life. The book is called Praying Like Monks, Living Like Fools by Tyler Staton. One reason I am excited to read this book is that I feel that pray is the area of my spiritual life that needs the most work.
There was one section of the book that really gave me a new understanding of the role prayer take in my life. The author tells us that the book of Psalms is basically a book of prayers–communications with God–about many subjects with differing attitudes and tones. He even tells us that there are several prayers that go against God’s will, heretical if you prefer. And all of these prayers, the good, the bad, and the ugly are accepted, even welcomed by God. Here are some examples:
May burning coals fall on them;
may they be thrown into the fire,
into miry pits, never to rise. Psalm 140:10
I am worn out calling for help;
my throat is parched.
My eyes fail,
looking for my God. Psalm 69:3
I pour out before him my complaint;
before him I tell my trouble. Psalm 142:2
In these three examples we have an angry vengeful prayer, a whiny prayer, and a complaining prayer–all from David, who was the apple of God’s eye. So what does that mean for your prayer life?
Bring all your prayers to God. He want’s to hear them. The whiny ones, the complaining ones, and even the whiny ones. He isn’t going to reject you. He just wants to hear from you. So tell him how you honestly feel and see how your loving God responds.
