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A Prayer about Getting Good at Grief

by | Jun 19, 2023 | Daily Prayer, Gospel Coaching, Grief

A Prayer about Getting Good at Grief

I am shut in so I cannot escape; my eye grows dim through sorrow.

Psalm 88:9

Compassionate Father,

We don’t pray Psalm 88 enough, 

and maybe that’s why we’re not very good at grief. 

Today, we use the words of this dark yet hopeful Psalm

 to cry out for ourselves or for friends 

walking through agonizing losses:

For those who feel: 

“You have caused my companions to shun me; 

you have made me a horror to them” (Psalm 88:8),

come close in their isolation, 

and send us as comfort in the flesh. 

May we never shrink back from horrific suffering, 

but may we enter into it with your grace and hope. 

For those who feel: “I am a man (or woman) who has no strength” (Psalm 88:4),

soothe them with the rest they desperately need, 

and provide the energy to do the things they must do. 

Send us to lift them up, 

whether in prayer or in service, 

Most of all, Father, 

help our friends to see that they’re not alone, 

that you have supplied them with a great cloud of witnesses 

to walk with them in this long and torturous journey.

In Jesus’ faithful name. Amen.

Read Psalm 88:1-18.



A Prayer about Our Hope in Broken Stories

by | Apr 24, 2023 | Daily Prayer, Grief, Suffering

A Prayer about Our Hope in Broken Stories

They shall build up the ancient ruins; they shall raise up the former devastations; they shall repair the ruined cities, the devastations of many generations. Isaiah 61:4

Restoring God,

Today we lift up all who are in the middle of a story 

that feels like it has been torn up and tossed in the trash. 

The woman who has had three miscarriages in the past two years,

The child who just heard of her parent’s divorce,

The man who has received a cancer diagnosis, 

The people who experience marginalization 

because of their skin color or nationality…

The list goes on and on and on. 

Help us to look for what we really need to see 

in the midst of such stories: 

your restoring work that is happening even today 

and will be completed when Jesus returns.

Here is just some of the good news Jesus speaks to us through Isaiah: 

Instead of streaks of tears sullying your face, 

your face will shine with the oil of gladness

 and the hope of restoration (Isaiah 61:3).

No longer shriveled by sin and sadness, 

you will stand strong, 

planted firmly in the Lord’s steadfast love, 

like a mighty oak waving its leaf-laden branches 

in praise of the Lord’s glory (Isaiah 61:3).

The ruins of your life will be rebuilt, 

losses to the evil one will be restored, 

relationships ravaged by sin will be revived (Isaiah 61:4).

Help us to meditate on this future 

which you are writing into our broken stories even today.

In Jesus’ redeeming name. Amen.

Read Isaiah 61:1-11.

A Prayer about Bearing One Another’s Burdens

by | Apr 16, 2023 | Church, Daily Prayer, Grief, Suffering

A Prayer about Bearing One Another’s Burdens

Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. Galatians 6:2

Merciful God,

How exquisitely you have designed your church, 

the body of Christ. 

You have called us to share our weakness 

with you and with one another, 

and you tell us that in that weakness 

we find our greatest strength

—strength in dependence on Christ, 

strength in dependence on one another (2 Corinthians 12:8-10). 

Today, I pray especially for those in our body who are weak—

the bereft grieving the loss of a loved one, 

the caregiver serving a loved one through many hard days, 

the sick and frail struggling with illness, whether physical or mental….

[Name some weak people you would like to pray for….]

May we truly lift them up, not only in prayer but in service, by bearing their burdens—listening without trying to fix, bringing meals or mowing lawns, forgiving their irritability…

[Name some ways you might bear the burdens of someone who is weak….]

We pray too, that you would empower the weak 

with the humility and grace required 

to receive the loving care of the body of Christ. 

In Jesus’ burden-bearing name. Amen. 

Read Galatians 6:1-10.

A Prayer about How Long Grief Lasts

by | Apr 12, 2023 | Daily Prayer, Grief, Suffering

A Prayer about How Long Grief Lasts

How long must I take counsel in my soul and have sorrow in my heart all the day? How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?  Psalm 13:2

O Lord,

How long indeed?

It’s been just over two weeks 

since the tragic shooting at a school in Nashville. 

The news cycle has moved on. 

Most people have moved on. 

But those who lost loved ones that day haven’t,

and they won’t, 

not for a long time. 

Dark images are engraved in their mind’s eye; 

tears at such sudden, shocking loss 

of so many precious lives, 

burst forth without warning.

And there are others 

who lost loved ones that week, 

but no one seemed to notice their loss. 

Their loved one died a “normal death,” 

cut down by cancer, 

destroyed by disease,

succumbing to old age.

Oh Lord, how long indeed? 

How long will we wait for the day 

of no more death, 

for indeed there is no such thing 

as a “normal” death. 

How long will it seem that our enemy, 

death and evil, 

is exalted over us?

We are tired. 

We are weary. 

We don’t think we can endure another day.

Will you come, even now, 

Lord Jesus,

So near to the brokenhearted?

Will you revive us again?

We long, like David, 

who sang Psalm 13, 

to sing out in hope, 

even in the midst of our grief, 

to utter the words 

which we do believe are true:

“But I have trusted in your steadfast love;

    my heart shall rejoice in your salvation.

I will sing to the Lord,

    because he has dealt bountifully with me” (Psalm 13:5-6).

Give us voice to your goodness

even as we continue to grieve.

In Jesus’ hope-full name. 

Amen.

Read Psalm 13

A Prayer of Lament about the Covenant Presbyterian School Shooting

by | Mar 28, 2023 | Death and Resurrection, Grief

A Prayer of Lament about the Covenant Presbyterian School Shooting

Dear friends, in these days when words are hard to find for our grief, we make the words God has given us in his holy and loving Word our own. Please join me in an attempt at lament:

“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” John1:5

O Lord,

“God of our salvation,

we cry out day and night before you,

Let our prayer come before you;

Incline your ear to our cry” (Psalm 88:1-2)

We bring to you, Oh Lord, our complaint.

This is the way many of us feel right now:

“For these things I weep;

my eyes flow with tears;

for a comforter is far from me,

one to revive my spirit;

my children are desolate,

for the enemy has prevailed” (Lamentations 1:16)

We ask for you to bring

your peace,

your love,

your comfort

and your healing

to all involved in this tragedy,

and to this entire world:

To the families of the victims

To the family of the shooter

To the children, family, faculty, and staff of Covenant Presbyterian School

To all the grieving and traumatized in the community

To the mentally ill

We urge you to bring your justice and peace to this world:

for the day of no more gun violence

for the day of no more evil

for the day of no more tears,

no more death,

no more mourning,

no more pain (Revelation 21:4).

Because of Jesus, we know that day is coming:

Even now, we proclaim this truth:

“The light shines in the darkness,

and the darkness has not overcome it.” John1:5

Even now, we pray,

“That we may have strength to comprehend

with all the saints

what is the breadth and length and height and depth,

and to know the love of Christ

which surpasses knowledge,

that [we] may be filled with all the fullness of God (Ephesians 3:17-19).

As we walk these days in the light of your love,

As we live toward the day of resurrection,

we hear you assuring us,

“Behold, I am coming soon” (Revelation 22:7).

We cry out,

“Come quickly, Lord Jesus” (Revelation 22:20).

We hear you respond,

“Surely I am coming soon” (Revelation 22:20).

In your tear-wiping name we pray. Amen.

Read Psalm 88; Lamentations; Revelation 21-22; John 1:1-18.

A Prayer about Hope in a Dark World

by | Feb 7, 2023 | Daily Prayer, gratitude, Grief, kingdom living, Suffering

A Prayer about Hope in a Dark World

He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. Colossians 1:13-14

Father, 

I confess, 

sometimes the darkness of this world 

seems all-encompassing. 

The depressing news, 

the bent toward meanness, 

the joy in judginess

…I see it everywhere—

in my own heart and in the hearts of others. 

What good news it is to remember then, 

that we who are in Christ

no longer live in the “domain of darkness.” 

You have transferred us and transformed us. 

Now we have a rich inheritance: 

“the inheritance of the saints in the light” (Colossians 1:12). 

Now we are freed from the tyrant Satan 

to serve you, our redeeming and forgiving King. 

Now our primary language is “thanksgiving” 

and our primary work is “endurance and patience and joy” (Colossians 1:11). 

Now we have been “strengthened with all power, 

according to his glorious might” (Colossians 1:11).

to live as citizens of the kingdom of the beloved Son.

So very gratefully we pray. Amen. 

Read Colossians 1:9-14.