Let me provide you another example of how a psalm can provide you the framework for expressing despairing feelings to God. It may be uncomfortable at first, but remember that these are the prayers that Jesus also used.

Frustrations in Ministry

PSALM 55

You are invited to pray this Psalm as a prayer for that part of you that feels near the breaking point — over-worked and under-appreciated. To help you claim the prayer as your own:

As you pray verses 1-3 aloud replace the personal pronoun with your name.

Imagine the enemy to be all those forces that work against your practicing your ministry as you want.

Allow yourself time to visualize the people and conditions that hamper you.

Pray verses 4-8, by filling in between the lines with all the times that you have wanted to run away from all pressures.

Allow the prayer to be a framework for remembering the anxiety attacks, the times of feeling overwhelmed, the frustrations that caused you to want to “‘throw in the towel” and confess those feelings, past or present, to God.

Now allow the next verses of the psalm to lift up to God your reflections about the state of society:

(9)          violence in the city

(10)        inequality in society

(11)        economic corruption

and your feelings of betrayal by those you counted on in the church to support your efforts (12-14)

Let the psalm give you permission to vent your anger in hyperbolic terms (15).

Even if it feels extreme, hear yourself pray verse 15 about those who you feel have betrayed you.

The extreme allows us to include all of those feelings of anger & hurt that we might tend to censure even in our own consciousness.

Risk sharing with God that dark shadow that you are afraid of.

Only after you have given voice to your negative feelings can Verses 16-19 be a natural part of your prayer.  It is a reaffirmation of faith in the midst of the battle.

Again by replacing the pronoun with your name, you claim it for yourself.  It is because God hears the cry of the afflicted and you have been willing to be honest regarding your afflictions, that you can trust that God hears you.  Whether you feel betrayed or let down by others in actions (20) or words (21), you are invited to ‘caste your burden on the Lord” (22)

As the Hebrews learned in Egypt, it is God who hears the cry and exacts justice.  As Jesus experienced on the cross, God executes justice in God’s way and with God’s timing, rather than ours, but God does hear our cry. (23)

With these reflections in mind, allow Psalm 55 to be a channel for sharing with God the frustrations, hurts, and angers of ministry in an over-demanding world.