31 Prayers for when Life isn't Fair: 31 Prayers, #2

By Fran Driscoll

Serving the Lord with a broken heart is difficult…

 

Even more so when you see the heartless sail through life without difficulty.

 

Some who work tirelessly for the Lord and do their best to walk with God see disaster after disaster. There is no greater pain on earth than the loss of a child—except the loss of more than one. Whether it is quick and unexpected, or a long, agonizing march to the end, the pain cuts so deep it will take our breath away. It doesn't make sense, and will leaving us asking, "Why, God?"

 

When life beats us up, when we can barely lift our head because we are so broken, it is hard to remember that God is good—all the time.

 

If you're looking for a book of prayers to heal the broken, encourage the wounded, and point us to the God who loves us infinitely and works all things together for our good, you'll love "31 Prayers for When Life isn't Fair."

 

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• Language: English
• Publisher: Fran Driscoll
• Release date: Sep 10, 2021
• ISBN: 9798201363536

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Day 1

devastating loss

I hear, and my body trembles; my lips quiver at the sound; rottenness enters into my bones; my legs tremble beneath me…

Habakkuk 3:16

It is difficult to love and serve the Lord with a broken heart. It often seems that those who are heartless go their merry way and sail through life, while some who work tirelessly for the Lord and do their best to walk with God see disaster after disaster. There is no greater pain on earth than the loss of a child—except the loss of more than one child. Whether it is quick and unexpected or a long, agonizing march to the end, the pain cuts so deep that it takes our breath away. It makes no sense. The little ones are supposed to go last. We are supposed to kiss them goodbye and close our eyes in death long before our children. It goes against everything in us to bury our own child; tiny coffins or headstones seem to be against the natural order of things. Whether we have only known our child for a few short months as in a miscarriage, or the child we have planned and prayed for all nine months is stillborn, or a toddler or a teen is torn from the family; even when we have loved that child into middle age or beyond, the death of a child rips out a piece of ourselves that leaves a gaping, aching hole. The remaining scar never fully heals.

This is what the LORD says, A voice is heard in Ramah, mourning and great weeping, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted because they are no more.

Jeremiah 31:15

How unfair for an expectant mother to miscarry her baby the day after her baby shower, or for a woman to have miscarriage after miscarriage until doctors finally had to tell her that she will never be physically able to carry a child to term. A newborn suddenly dies, a car runs over a toddler, and a precious preteen succumbs to cancer just when it looked like she was getting better and we wish we could just get one word from Almighty God explaining why this happened—any word of comfort would do. If only we could feel His arms around us in our time of grief.

Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.

Jeremiah 33:3

There seems to be no remedy for wounded parents and the grieving family and friends. The loss and pain tears our insides apart. There are no words, only sorrow that grinds and twists its way into our innermost being. Once happy memories become never-agains. Our fingers ache for just one more touch, and the if-only litany begins. If only I could kiss and hug my child one more time. If only we had played more. If I had only known our time would be so short, I would have done so much differently! Our arms literally ache to hold that child just one more time. We long to hear the sound of that precious voice, and we don’t know how we will make it until we are reunited in Glory. It seems so far off, and the emptiness and pain are right here, suffocating and palpable.

Record my misery; list my tears on your scroll—are they not in your record?

Psalm 56:8

There seems to be no way that this can be the plan of our loving, Almighty Father. All Mighty as in He can do everything so why, why, why? God has promised to be with us when it hurts. When we can’t feel His arms around us, we can still ask Him for comfort. He promises to stay close to the brokenhearted and bring us the peace that passes understanding. Jesus said, Blessed are those who mourn. We must hold tightly to that when it seems that our whole life has come crashing down around us. In the blinding ache that is our grief, the God of all creation says, I love you with an everlasting love. I will wipe your tears away.

Dear Father in Heaven,

You watched Your son die an agonizing death. I don’t know how You did it. I feel like my future is empty of all except pain. It hurts to know that my precious child will never again be here for me to hold or to kiss or to talk to. The emptiness is more than I can bear sometimes, and I really need Your comfort right now. Help me as I grieve the loss of one of Your most precious blessings. Give me the strength to face each day when I would rather just sleep forever. It hurts, Lord. It hurts so much, and it feels so wrong. How can I outlive my child? How can I go through each day as if my heart hasn’t been torn into throbbing pieces? How can I walk through each day as if a sword hasn’t been thrust through my heart? Give me Your strength and fill me with the Holy Spirit. Help me to find comfort in Your word, and in the blessings that still surround me. I know that one day You will wipe every tear from my eyes, but right now, Lord, my tears seem to have no end. Heaven seems so far away, and I can’t feel the love of Christ surrounding me. Help me to remember that my child’s death isn’t truly the end because death is a defeated foe. I know in my head that this pain is only temporary, but it cuts through me in the deepest part of my being. It’s so wrong, Lord. It doesn’t make sense. It hurts too much to bear. Let your Holy Spirit pray for me when words can’t express how I feel. Give me hope even when life looks bleak and hopeless in the days and years to come. Help me when those I love do or say heartless things to me as I mourn. Wrap Your arms around me and comfort me in this terrible time of grief. Show me the way each day. In Jesus’ precious name I pray. Amen.

Day 2

Busybodies and the cutting tongue

It can be called murder by mouth—those vicious little stories and lies that swirl around the workplace or gossip that races throughout the family like tasty morsels at a picnic. Some people aren’t happy unless they can tear somebody down or tell an ugly story about them. Like a pack of wolves, they circle the weak and try to devour them. Lives have been ruined, marriages broken and children forever scarred by that little, flapping tongue. Sometimes it is just a careless comment. Other times it is meant to cut your enemy to the core.

But no one can tame the tongue; it is a restless evil and full of deadly poison.

James 3:8

The tongue can do as much damage as any weapon. I was very clumsy as a child, and I’ll never forget when my grade school Physical Education teacher lambasted me in front of others when I fell during a running exercise, causing another student to fall also. It was no secret that I was uncoordinated and sometimes tripped over my own feet. Did it make her feel superior to shame a little kid? Children remember what adults say, and some children have had their lives forever altered by one thoughtless comment.

There is one whose rash words are like sword thrusts, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.

Proverbs 12:10

Talk show host Rush Limbaugh once said that it was the easiest thing in the world to tear somebody down. At the time, I was shocked to hear him admit it because I greatly enjoyed hearing him lampoon the double standard of the major media and the incorruptible politicians that they worship. It hasn’t escaped me that they report a story to death if it hurts their enemies and routinely let their friends get away with dishonesty. But his statement made me think. It is so fun to lambaste those who get away with doing wrong, but as a Christian it is the opposite of what I should be doing. Ouch. I was always taught that two wrongs don’t make a right, and here I was laughing out loud at two wrongs. It gave me a feeling of power to be able to join in with the commentators who expose and lampoon those who tell us what to think and how to think it, those who think that their pet causes are the only ones that matter, who have perfected false outrage whenever it benefits their worldview, and those who shove their morality (or lack thereof) down our throats every day in the guise of being open-minded. I enjoyed every second of their comeuppance, and hoped there would be more to come. It is so