“Hear my prayer, LORD, and listen to my cry for help; do not be silent at my tears. For I am a foreigner residing with You, a sojourner like all my fathers. Turn Your angry gaze from me so that I may be cheered up before I die and am gone” (vv. 12–13).
David, feeling alienated and estranged from God, cries out for help. He even wonders if the Lord hears his weeping, for he feels like an outcast—a foreigner in Israel, a mere passing guest or sojourner. For the moment all he can see is his own death looming before him.
As a Christian music executive in a secular world, I have felt this kind of alienation. Then I remind myself that I’m just a pilgrim here, and I think of the words of that old southern gospel song, “This World Is Not My Home.”
Despite David’s desperation, alienation, and estrangement, he prays, and this prayer is a testimony of his bedrock faith and trust in God. Though he can’t put his circumstances together rationally, he still clings to an existential relationship with God.
The most natural thing for a believer to do, in times of despair and despondency, is to turn to the Heavenly Father. All true spirituality begins with this basic kind of honest lament.
Personal Prayer
Heavenly Father, I may be a stranger in this world, but I don’t want to be a stranger to you. Don’t let me blend with the voices of the world, but help me to sound a clear note of faith in the midst of doubt and disillusionment.
Don Wyrtzen
Intentional Faith 