Prayer is the Best Medicine

Prayer is the Best Medicine “My soul is weary of my life; I will leave my complaint upon myself; I will speak in the bitterness of my soul. I will say unto God, Do not condemn me; shew me wherefore thou contendest with me.” Job 10:1, 2

Job wasn’t always correct in what he said or even how he said it, but he found genuine help in pouring out his heart through transparent prayer. You too will find relief in open and honest prayer to God – I certainly have. He learned that in the midst of everything that was going on to just keep crying out to God. Prayer always works.

Sometimes people mistakenly think that having patience is just sitting around calmly waiting for something to change. Nothing could be further from the truth! That is not patience at all. Patience is not passive. Patience is very active. It is just active in the right way! It is waiting on God in prayer and not moving until you get the go ahead from Him. Prayer always works.

I have got to believe that Job looked at Bildad and thought, “I am sure you want to help, but you know what, your lack of compassion and your words are not helping. If you really want to help me – pray. The best thing you can do for me is to pray. I need prayer more than I need your words.” Because Job had had such a serious blow to his finances and emotions he had a lot of needs, but as much as he needed meals or phone calls he needed prayer more. Prayer – that’s the kind of help that he really needed! Pray that God will speak, send peace and somehow turn things around for you.

Dear reader, I submit to each of you, the best thing that you can offer to any human is to pray for them. A valuable thing that even a poor man can give is prayer. The healthy thing that a person who lies on his sick bed can give is prayer. The strengthening thing that a person who is older can give, is prayer and the one thing that we can all offer somebody is prayer.

I may not be able to give them my daytime, but I can get up early and pray for them. I may not be able to call them at Five o’clock in the morning but I can call to God. I may not have the resources to be able to go where they are, but I can always ask the Holy Spirit to go where they are. Prayer is the greatest thing we can do for our friends! Job pleaded with Bildad, “I know you want to get me right with God, and I am trying to do just that - but what I really need is prayer.”

Losing a spouse is devastating – plain and simple. The lack of control and utter helplessness, the finality of death, the feelings of hopelessness, the minutes that feel like days are things only the Lord truly understands. And He does! Read the petitions listed in the book of Psalms. These are not the tidy little bedtime prayers of childhood. They are full of passion. I found (and still do) great…no, amazing comfort in praying the Psalms back to God. It is the only consistent relief I have found. People will sit next to you and talk of the weather or whatever – and it feels like they are far away. All I wanted to talk about was my wife. Every thought I had included her. Most of the time remembering her was comforting. But sometimes I felt like I couldn’t stand thinking of her any more. There is nothing like losing a loving spouse, but I tell you that you will come through the valley. The world may never look the same but things will get back to a new normal (a good phrase to learn). Keep praying the Psalms!