Tough prayers

Tough prayers

Hear, O our God, for we are despised; turn their reproach on their own heads, and give them as plunder to a land of captivity! Do not cover their iniquity, and do not let their sin be blotted out from before You; for they have provoked You to anger before the builders.

Nehemiah 4:4-5

Tough prayers 

We have seen many kinds of prayer in the Bible:

😢Prayer with tears (Hannah)

🙏Prayer with a vow (Hannah, Jephthah)

💧Prayer with fasting (Esther)

But here we see a prayer with tough words! This is not the first place we have seen this. We have seen David praying many such tough prayers.

👄Breath their teeth in their mouth, O God! (Psalm 58:6) 👄

⛺Let their dwelling place be desolate; let no one live in their tents (Psalm 69:25)⛺

An eye for an eye : A life for a life --- all this happened in the Old Testament. But today God wants our prayers to be filled with words of mercy instead of words of anger!

How did Jesus respond to insults❓ 

People were hurling lies at him.  “… many false witnesses came forward… At last two witnesses came forward and said, ‘This fellow said ‘I am able to destroy the temple of God and to build it in three days.’’ The high priest turned to the Lord and dug said, ‘Do you answer nothing? What is it these men testify against you?’ But Jesus kept silent.” (Matthew 26:59-63)

When on the cross people were accusing and taunting Him, jeering at Him and spitting upon Him, the Lord prayed,

“Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” (Luke 23:34)

Two things that Jesus did:

▪Keeping silent

▪A prayer of forgiveness

Application

❤who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously…” (1 Peter 2:23)❤

Jesus was reviled, but He did not revile in return. Can we learn this from Christ today?

Jesus didn’t like the thought of dying on the cross, but when He knew it was what He had to do, He embraced it and trusted His heavenly Father. He wasn’t on the cross, struggling to get off. Because He did embrace it, our sins are forgiven and we have an intimate relationship with Him.

Don’t let your disappointments in life become a place for you to stumble over and never recover from. Embrace them and let them bring you closer to God.

Let them make you better, not bitter!