In the day of my distress I sought the Lord. My hand was stretched out in the night and did not grow weary. My soul refused to be comforted.
One of the great complaints you hear from a lot of parents is that their kid asks for the same thing over and over again.
Honestly, it makes sense; little brains don’t have a real concept of when it’s been an appropriate amount of time to revisit a subject, and they’re still figuring out how to communicate their desires without bringing it up over and over again. And we have all done this—begged for a birthday or Christmas gift that we wanted so fervently we just couldn’t help getting stuck in that loop. We mentioned it as often as it crossed our minds because it just mattered THAT MUCH to us!
But as children of God, do we approach Him with the same fervor in prayer?
I can sadly number just a handful of times where I’ve prayed with the same adamant enthusiasm that fueled my pestering requests for another stuffed animal as a kid. The dedication of the psalmist’s prayers here in Psalm 77—seeking Yahweh with a tireless hand outstretched in supplication, refusing to be comforted until he heard from Him—has unfortunately been lacking in my prayer life. Often, I’ve been afraid of becoming pharisaical in my approach, repeating rote requests until I grow numb to it, bereft of heart and passion.
Likely this is something we can all relate to; at some point we haven’t been as impassioned in prayer as we’d like to be. But that’s where the words and actions of our predecessors in the faith, like the psalmist here, become so indispensable and powerful as an example to us!
Read and absorb the words in Psalm 77. Can you feel the soul behind them, the passion, the utter drive? This psalmist was not afraid to bare his heart to God, his vehemence well beyond even the most heartfelt plea for roller skates on Christmas. His words resonate with hope and faith—why? Because, like a kid who believes Mom and Dad can make any birthday wish come true, this man wholeheartedly believes in God’s deliverance and might.
No matter how grown we are, we must believe that, too. We need our hearts restored to that place of childlike faith in what our Heavenly Father can do—and then we need to pray from that place, ardently, wholeheartedly, tirelessly, refusing to be comforted until we hear from God. When we pray passionately, out of trust, in accordance with the will of God and with our whole heart, we will not be rote or legalistic; instead we will find new depth to our faith, new closeness with God…and answers to prayer that no toy wrapped in a bow could ever compare with.
