Endurance for the Journey, Featured, Prayer
A Desperate Cry
The wife of a man from the company of the prophets
cried out to Elisha,
“Your servant my husband is dead,
and you know that he revered the Lord.
But now his creditor is coming
to take my two boys as his slaves.”
2 KINGS 4:1 (NIV)
When I first heard my diagnosis, my prayer life changed. Sure, I had prayed before but that moment marked a new experience and understanding of prayer. I now began to pray with desperation.
I have since discovered that my experience is not unique. Desperate people through the ages have cried out to God for help in their time of deepest need. The psalmist David certainly did and I knew another “David” who also did. My former pastor, David Jeremiah, wrote about it in his book Prayer, the Great Adventure. He writes: “I learned to pray out of desperation. For most of us, this is how the adventure usually begins. When we finally get serious about prayer, the trigger is usually desperation, not duty. We don’t pray because we ought; we pray because we are without any other recourse.”
The truth is, we always need God desperately, not just in times of life crisis. We may not always feel ourselves in such dire straits that we need God to rescue us, but we are always needy. Having a relationship with God is vital to human life.
From the depths of despair, O Lord,
I call for your help.
PSALM 130:1 (NLT)
In my desperation I prayed, and the Lord listened;
He saved me from all my troubles.
PSALM 34:6 (NLT)
On the journey with you,
Dave Dravecky
