When You’re Feeling Weak, Pray Like This… (2 Prayer Keys from King David)
“To you, Lord, I call; You are my Rock, do not turn a deaf ear to me. … Praise be to the Lord, for he has heard my cry for mercy. The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and he helps me. My heart leaps for joy.” - Psalm 28:1,6-7 NIV
Have you ever found yourself praying, “God, do You hear me? I need to know that You hear my prayer. Can You hear my sound? Can You hear my cry?”
Have you ever felt so alone? If you have ever felt so weak because you simply needed to know beyond a shadow of a doubt that God indeed heard your prayer, well, this may just be your psalm. This is right where we find David in Psalm 28. He is crying these very same words, feeling the very same way. He needs to know that God has heard his cry.
Psalm 28 lets us peek into David’s prayer life. We find him crying out to God with an earnest pleading, that inner groan that says, “God, if You don’t break in, I feel as if my life will end.” I love The Passion Translation for this first verse: “I’m pleading with you, Lord, help me! Don’t close your ears to my cry, for you’re my defender. If you continue to remain aloof and refuse to answer me, I might as well give up and die.”
Now, that is pretty dire. We are not certain the exact timing of this psalm; however, Derek Kidner writes in his Psalms commentary, “The situation is probably illness or deep despair and the fear is not a dread of death, as such, but of death with unmerited disgrace.” [1] David wrote Psalm 28 in dire circumstances—so dire and so stressful that if God didn’t break in, he felt that death was at his doorstep. David needed to know that God heard and was not silent and distant.
Psalm 28 is a “song in the night” of which the pen of David was so prolific. The thorn at the breast of the nightingale was said by the old naturalists to make it sing; David’s griefs made him eloquent in holy psalmody. [2]
Psalm 27 ends in a very high place of declaring that God works today, while we are alive, not just a future tense of eternity, but God is a strength and hope now. Then, with one flip of the page, we find David again in complete dire need of his Rock. I love how he has no trouble in writing about his needs. He starts out yet again in complete need of God, and he is not ashamed to admit his weakness. He pours out his heart in the next few verses, and then we see a divine shift.
Key 1: “Help!"“
We have seen this in many of David’s psalms. He begins in complete weakness, failure, or despair, and his prayer life, his ability to honestly and sincerely talk to the Lord, always leads him to the knowledge that God hears and God will act on his behalf. He does not turn to man for help. He does not turn to family for help. He does what he does best—he turns to his only Rock and asks for help. Here lies our first key—help. Just lift up that cry. Help, help, oh God. Just be as honest and vulnerable with the Lord as you can possibly be. Tell Him what is happening as you lift up this key—help. This key, this honest plea in weakness of help, is the very on-ramp for the divine shift.
Key 2: “You Are My Rock”
There is another key here—You are my rock. Right in the middle of our honest pleas for help, let us do what David did and just state the fact that God is our Rock. Spurgeon writes, “The immutable Jehovah is our rock, the immovable foundation of all our hopes and our refuge in time of trouble: we are fixed in our determination to flee to him as our stronghold in every hour of danger.” [3]
Use this key, You are my rock, as a reminder of who God is for you, even before you feel this. It is truth. Say this out loud. Pick up this key; use it every day to remind your heart—You are my rock.
David said that the Lord was his Rock—his foundation, his stability, his security. “It is a remarkable fact that in all the Old Testament literature, ‘rock’ is reserved as a figure of Deity… never for man.” [4]
The Divine Shift
Oh beloved, take out these keys—help and You are my rock. In the middle of a cry for help, remind your heart of this truthful statement. You are my rock. Then watch the heart begin to realize the truth. You are not alone. God hears that tender and faint cry, help. You are already on the Rock. He never left. The Rock did not move.
Then, the divine switch that is so familiar in the psalms penned by David—his pleadings, his woes, and his constant sorrows shift to faith and rejoicing. We find this shift in verse 6: “Praise be to the Lord; He has heard my cry for mercy.” This does not even sound like the same person praying as at the beginning of the psalm because suddenly truth has its perfect way in David’s heart.
Oh, how miraculous. The heart suddenly understands the reality that God hears. What is even more wonderful is this same shift can work in our lives also. We can sing and pray our way to faith just like David does. We can sing our way to hope and victory even if we feel like our whole world is caving in. When we will sing and pray out loud the words that David prayed, this supernatural shift from fear to faith has its perfect way within us, just like we saw it have its way within David.
In verse 6, there is a glorious turn into praise. This song of praise begins to arise as faith has overtaken a once fearful heart. This is a perfect picture of starting weak and in need but continuing an ongoing conversation with God. Never stop using that first key—God, help. By using the words David prayed, that same divine shift from fear to faith will also take place within us. These words are powerful, even when David writes from the place of weakness. Suddenly, those living words begin to have their full effect as David sings and prays. Those dire claws of fear let go and David is engulfed in steady, courageous faith. The perils of fear once again loose their grip on the psalmist who sings and prays his meditations to God.
“Blessed be the Lord, because He has heard the voice of my supplication.” David’s testimony in song is, “God has heard my cry.” He answers the very pleas and requests that he sought after in verse 1. He answered his own prayer. He now has no doubt that his cry has made its way right to the very throne of God.
David has the attention of God and he is sure of it. This is no longer a fearful David; the divine shift has happened and there is an assuredness within his innermost being that God hears. Right now, he knows he is in the company of God and His heavenly host, and David’s voice and sound have made their way straight to God.
This is where we take Psalm 28 and make it personal. We don’t have to start the prayer strong; we can begin weak, even with a feeling of distance. Here lies our third key—He has heard my cry. Say this out loud many times a day. This is truth. God has heard my cry. Take this key and use it often. Say it over and over, sing it out. God has heard. My cry has made its way into the ears and heart of God. This is the truth. God has heard your cry.
David’s divine shift can also be ours. We can take these very words as our own. Take out this key, He has heard my cry. Open that door and keep on going. God has heard my voice. The Lord has heard my sound. He has heard my singing. God has heard my thundering sound, and not only has He heard, He intends to answer. This same strengthening knowledge will also make its divine shift within us.
We can start weak, but if we just keep the conversation going, we will be the ones shouting, God has heard my cry. He has heard even my whisper. My safety, my praise is that God hears my cry.
David starts with pleas, but he ends in absolute confidence. His song is his declaration. “The Lord is my strength. The Lord is my force, my security, He is my praise. He is my boldness. God is my might and power.”
Here we find new confidence. I am helped because I am surrounded; I am protected. I have help all around me, and this causes my heart to greatly rejoice. So I will praise. I will worship, and with my song I totally surrender to the One who is my protector and my strength.
Psalm 28 is our invitation to change our mindset; He hears, and He is with us now. When this is alive in our heart and mind, we will actually start living life like it is.
We can bear anything and everything because God is our strength. David adds his voice to the testimony of countless others who have found help as their heart trusts in God. This whole-hearted trust can be ours also.
Prayer
Praise be to the Lord; He has heard my cry for mercy. Praise be to the Lord; He has heard my cry for help. Lord, You are my strength and You are my shield. My heart trusts in You. I will lean upon You. And every single time I cry, You help me. You don’t leave me alone; You don’t leave my calls for help unheard.
Thank You, Lord, You hear my cries and You answer them. Thank You for Your constant attentive listening ears. Thank You for Your heart as a Father and a tender shepherd to reach down and bear me up in Your strong arms.
I will praise You. I will tell of Your goodness. I will make my testimony known before the people. You make my heart so glad.
Oh Lord, You are mighty and You watch over and guard Your chosen ones. Oh, Your watchful eyes are always upon me; like a shepherd, You lead me. Like a shepherd, You go on before me and You carry me in Your arms. To You I call, oh Lord, to You I call, my Rock. You are my immovable, secure Rock whom I may call on in days of trouble. I will praise You, oh Lord. You hear my cry and You answer. Thank You.
Notes
Kidner, Psalms, 140.
Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, “Psalm 28, Title and Subject,” https://archive.spurgeon.org/treasury/treasury.php.
Ibid., “Psalm 28, verse 1.”
David Guzik, “Psalm 28: Praise from Prayer Heard and Answered,” The Enduring Word Bible Commentary, https:// enduringword.com/bible-commentary/psalm-28.
