Allow Psalm 22 to gather up your prayer for a frustrating time in your ministry.
Based on Psalm 22
O God, our God, there are times in our lives when we feel forsaken by you.
We want to cry out, “Why are you so far from helping us.
Why don’t you listen to our cries of pain?”
God, at such times of despair we cry by day but fail to hear any response.
We cry by night but find no rest.
Lord, you are holy.
You have been praised for centuries by both Jew and Christian.
Our ancestors testify that they trusted in you and you delivered them.
They cried out to you and you saved them.
They held to their faith and were never put to shame.
Yet Lord there are times when we feel totally worthless;
our faith is scorned by society
our faithfulness is laughed at by other people.
They mock us and shake their heads in derision.
“Where is God when you need him,” they say?
“What good is faith, if it can’t protect you,” they mock?
God, it was you who planted faith in us from birth and nurtured it as we grew.
From childhood we have tried to trust in you,
Don’t abandon us now.
Trouble is all around us and there is no one else who can help.
Lord, don’t be far away, come quickly to our aid.
Deliver our soul from temptation
our life from the power of evil.
Save us from that which threatens to devour us.
When you save us, God, we can praise you in the midst of the congregation.
We can testify to your faithfulness to all who believe.
We can declare over and over again that you did not hide your face from us but heard us when we cried to you.
You can substitute the first person pronoun for yourself or find in the third person plural a prayer for your congregation.
