Helpless

Do you ever just feel completely helpless? You see someone you care for hurting and yet you can't do anything to change the situation they are in, to take away the pain, to answer the questions they have. All you can do is listen, try to comfort them, and pray.

Your words are empty, the hope you try to offer seems flat, the "I'm sorry's" carry so little weight. I would give anything I could to take their pain away from them and yet I can't.

So I offer the only comfort I can, the only hope I can: I pray. I ask the One who is greater than me to be their comfort, to be their peace, to provide the answers they seek.

I love the Psalms. I love the poetry, the honesty, the emotion, the bareness of them. They often are my cries in weakness and in praise.

Last night I sought the Psalms for something to pray, something to speak back to God to beg Him for His mercy and His comfort for my friend and to remind me that He is in control.

I found Psalm 77

My voice rises to God, and I will cry aloud;
My voice rises to God, and He will hear me.
In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord;
In the night my hand was stretched out without weariness;
My soul refused to be comforted.
When I remember God, then I am disturbed;
When I sigh, then my spirit grows faint. Selah.
You have held my eyelids open;
I am so troubled that I cannot speak.
I have considered the days of old,
The years of long ago.
I will remember mysong in the night;
I will meditate with my heart,
And my spirit ponders:
Will the Lord reject forever?
And will He never be favorable again?
Has His lovingkindness ceased forever?
Has His promise come to an end forever?
Has God forgotten to be gracious,
Or has He in anger withdrawn His compassion? Selah.
Then I said, "It is my grief,
That the right hand of the Most High has changed."
I shall remember the deeds of the LORD;
Surely I will remember Your wonders of old.
I will meditate on all Your work
And muse on Your deeds.
Your way, O God, is holy;
What god is great like our God?
You are the God who works wonders;
You have made known Your strength among the peoples.
You have by Your power redeemed Your people,
The sons of Jacob and Joseph. Selah.
The waters saw You, O God;
The waters saw You, they were in anguish;
The deeps also trembled.
The clouds poured out water;
The skies gave forth a sound;
Your arrows flashed here and there.
The sound of Your thunder was in the whirlwind;
The lightnings lit up the world;
The earth trembled and shook.
Your way was in the sea
And Your paths in the mighty waters,
And Your footprints may not be known.
You led Your people like a flock
By the hand of Moses and Aaron.

I felt the anguish of the writer, the pain of my friend, and I REMEMBERED the work of our Lord. I am helpless to offer anything to my friend, I am helpless to take away their pain, but I offer the prayers of one girl who trusts that her Lord can and will be sufficient for them.

So I pray this Psalm back to my Lord on behalf of my friend.