Real prayer: “I cried aloud”

I cried aloud to the LORD,

and he answered me from his holy hill. Selah

Psalm 3:4

This is David’s honest expression of soul written in an outlandish circumstance we struggle to fully understand. The title to Psalm 3 gives us the history of its writing: “A psalm of David, when he fled from Absalom, his son.” So this was a very personal pain David had at the time of its writing. He is in retreat (something David was not known to do), fleeing for his life from a palace and capital city now overrun by hostiles, as his kingdom fell in civil war, and to top it all off, the enemy seeking David’s finish is his own son, Absalom. The situation is deeply personal and deeply painful. Intense is not strong enough a word to describe it.

And in the deeply personal pain David literally shouts out, screams out, to the Lord. A pursuing army has turned against him. The nation that had once sang of David’s bravery everywhere he went has rebelled to chase him down. Their “prayers” are for David’s destruction: “There is no salvation for him in God” (Psalm 3:2).

Yet in all this unimaginable crisis, running into and away from chaos, David trusts God and cries out. He knew God was a shield, God was his worship, God would lift his head (Psalm 3:3). And confident despite the chaos, David is unafraid to turn the raw, fearful emotion directly over to God in a loud, primal prayer. He cried aloud. He didn’t stuff it in, offer silent “unspoken” requests, and smugly try to look like he had his religion altogether. He let loose his fear, clung to what faith was left, and turned it all into a weeping, trusting, screaming, desperate prayer, unafraid of who else might hear or see his cries to His Savior. When life has us completely reduced to fearful dependence, God can be seen at work in the greatest display of His power. Why not cry aloud? It won’t make anything worse!

And the psalm immediately provides the personal benefit of honest expression to God: 1) David slept, resting in a sustaining God (Psalm 3:5). Physical sleep can be a rare and nurturing gift in emotional turmoil. 2) David realistically trusted in God rather than give in to his fears (Psalm 3:6). And that conscious choice is VERY hard to do in traumatic circumstances. All this shows us prayer as it truly exists in real life. And God hears and answers it. May it build our confidence to pray just as passionately - chaos or not!