“This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.” 1 John 5:14
Even so, we pray still!
In our distress, we call to you, O Lord, please answer us. From the deep, in the realm of the dead, we call for help, please listen to our cry. You promised to answer when we call on you. We now call on you, who is worthy to be praised.
We have wallowed in the depths, in the very heart of calamity where the currents swirl us, and all your waves and breakers sweep over us; flood ahead and enemies behind. Seas of adversity, anxiety and depression overwhelm us, and our beds are wet with our tears.
Nevertheless, we look to your heavenly temple, where the curtain has been ripped into two, as we now access our great high priest, our dependable advocate that empathises with our weaknesses. We come with confidence to find mercy and grace in this time of need. For who is he that condemns? It is Christ who died for us, and it is with him we have now been united in an inestimable love that can never be unbound.
Even while the engulfing waters threaten and the deep surrounds us, we have confidence that we are not alone. We rest in the Spirit of Christ who sustains us, even through the shadows of death. May the love that has been shed abroad in our hearts cast out every form and trace of fear and may we walk with certain hope.
Lord, our God, when life seems to ebb away, please bring our lives from the pit and raise us out of the dungeon of hopelessness. Please deliver us from worthless idols and make us respond with loyalty and faithfulness to your love so that, with shouts of grateful praise, we may offer acceptable sacrifice to you. Indeed, salvation comes from the Lord!
We beg you to remove from our hearts all traces of apathy and lukewarmness. Instead, fill us with passionate desire to know and do your good pleasure. Let our ‘knee time’ exceed our ‘me time’; in public and private, may our lives be steeped in prayer, filled with the spirit of grace and supplication.
Amen.
*An adaptation of Jonah’s prayer in Jonah 2.