Lost Prayers . . .

Psalm 86:1-13 (New International Version)

(A prayer of David.)

 ¹ Hear, O LORD, and answer me,
       for I am poor and needy.

 ² Guard my life, for I am devoted to you.
       You are my God; save your servant
       who trusts in you.

 ³ Have mercy on me, O Lord,
       for I call to you all day long.

 ⁴ Bring joy to your servant,
       for to you, O Lord,
       I lift up my soul.

 ⁵ You are forgiving and good, O Lord,
       abounding in love to all who call to you.

 ⁶ Hear my prayer, O LORD;
       listen to my cry for mercy.

 ⁷ In the day of my trouble I will call to you,
       for you will answer me.

 ⁸ Among the gods there is none like you, O Lord;
       no deeds can compare with yours.

 ⁹ All the nations you have made
       will come and worship before you, O Lord;
       they will bring glory to your name.

 ¹⁰ For you are great and do marvelous deeds;
       you alone are God.

 ¹¹ Teach me your way, O LORD,
       and I will walk in your truth;
       give me an undivided heart,
       that I may fear your name.

 ¹² I will praise you, O Lord my God, with all my heart;
       I will glorify your name forever.

 ¹³ For great is your love toward me;
       you have delivered me from the depths of the grave.

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Lost Prayers

The headline read: “Unanswered Prayers: Letters to God Found Dumped in Ocean.”

The letters, 300 in all and sent to a New Jersey minister, had been tossed in the ocean, most of them unopened. The minister was long dead. How the letters came to be floating in the surf off the New Jersey shore is a mystery.

The letters were addressed to the minister because he had promised to pray for each one of those prayers. Some of the letters asked for frivolous things; others were written by anguished spouses, children, or widows. They poured out their hearts to God, asking for help with relatives or spouses who were cheating on them. One asked God for a husband and a father to love her child. The reporter concluded that all were “unanswered prayers.”

Not so! If those letter-writers cried out to God, He heard each one of them. Not one honest prayer is lost to His ears. “All my longings lie open before you, O Lord; my sighing is not hidden from you” (Psalm 38:9), David wrote in the midst of a deep personal crisis.  David understood that we can cast all our cares on the Lord, even if no one else prays for us. He confidently concluded, “In the day of my trouble I will call to you, for you will answer me” (Psalm 86:7).

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God has given you His promise

That He hears and answers prayer;

He will heed your supplication

If you cast on Him your care.

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Jesus Hears our Faintest Cry.