Hope for Days of DepressionSample

Persevering in Prayer

Consider and answer me, O Lord my God; light up my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death,

lest my enemy says, “I have prevailed over him,” lest my foes rejoice because I am shaken.

Psalm 13:3-4

Finding no comfort in his own counsel, David turns to God pleading in prayer! In desperation, David repeatedly knocks on the closed doors of heaven as a mad man. He wails hoping that God will take notice of him and consider his poor plight! He begs God to answer him! Though David feels abandoned by God and cannot see God’s presence in his present station of life, he nevertheless does not lose his faith! He fights against his own feelings of destitution and appeals to the Lord as “my God.” The living God of Israel was the God who had covenanted to be his God! He had promised to never abandon his beloved child! Thus, even in the silent darkness, David asks God to light up his eyes. Overcome by his miseries, David finds himself sinking into the darkness of despair. His eyes are drooping shut and he feels life slowly ebbing away! He fears he might sleep the sleep of death forever! Therefore, he asks the Lord to revive him!

David’s desperate pleas reveal that if God does not come through for him, he is in grave spiritual and mortal danger! He faces internal turmoil and there are enemies outside who surround him. If YHWH fails to consider his plight and answer his prayers, then David is certain that his enemies will prevail over him! These wicked men who plot evil against the Lord’s anointed would then proudly boast in their triumph and rejoice that David has been shaken and unseated. The perishing of the saints and the prevailing of sinners will bring disrepute upon God’s name! Not only will David perish but God’s name will also be publicly humiliated! This can never be! Thus, David casts himself by faith at God’s mercy in prayer! He has no other option. He is powerless. He can only pray. 

David’s desperate prayers bring God great glory! David acknowledges that none may save him but his Lord. He submits wholly to the sovereign mercy of God! Therefore, he continues to pray even in God’s apparent absence. This should be the believer’s response even when there is no response. We should persist in our petitions since our Jesus has told us, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.” (Matthew 7:7) Prevailing faith gives itself to persevering prayer.