The book of Psalms undouble expresses our cries in many ways. For that reason, we often go there to find comfort and learn how to present our cries to the Lord. They are testimonies of God’s faithfulness in every situation. Psalm 42:5 says, “Why are you cast down, o my soul? And why should you moan over me and be disquieted within me? Hope in God and wait expectantly for Him, for I shall yet praise Him, my Help and my God.” Reading the psalms, we find similarity with the writers of the Psalms. It is as if they were expressing our feelings in many cases. The book of Palms is filled with praises and acknowledgement of Whom God is. Merciful, loving, powerful, patient, etc. In Psalm fifty-one King David expresses sorrows for his sin with repentance, seeking God’s forgiveness. The cry of his soul is evident in the acknowledgment of his desire to be clean from his sin: “Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and guilt and cleanse me and make me wholly pure from my sin, for I am conscious of my transgressions and I acknowledge them; my sin is ever before me… Create in me a clean heart, o God and renew a right, persevering and steadfast spirit within me” (Ps. 51:2-3,10).
The Patriarch Job’s testimony of faithfulness to God written in his book, is a book we must not overlook. One, where he expresses his feelings of frustration being confident of his innocence before God and to his friends who came to comfort him. He expresses himself saying, “Surely, I wish to speak to all Almighty, and I desire to argue and reason my case with God” (Job 13: 3). In his deep hurt, where his heart cried before God, he prayed, “Oh, that I knew where I might find Him, that I might come even to His seat! I would lay my cause before Him and fill my mouth with arguments; I would learn what He would answer me and understand what He would say to me” (vs. 23:3-5). That’s the prayer cry from his soul, when suffering was intense and there was no answer to his prayer. Job’s desperation brings home to us as we too ask, God, “where are You”? Day and night we find ourselves submerged in the agony of doubt, Where is God? Our sufferings are not to be compared with Job’s sufferings, but everyone’s soul go through a valley or a desert hard enough to call on God for help. That’s where prayers from the soul cries to God in intimacy, waiting for His deliverance as Job, did. In spite of his sufferings, Job still feared God. He had much to say that showed his faith and taught us patience. He so declared, “For I Know that my Redeemer and vindicator lives, and at last He will stand upon the earth and after my skin, even this body, has been destroyed, then from my flesh or without it I shall see God, Whom I, even I, shall see for myself and on my side! And my eyes shall behold Him, and not as a stranger!” (Job 19:25-27). That’s a declaration of faith knowing that his eternal future was secure in the hands of His God.
Light from the Word 