(REFLECTIONS ON Psalm 142:1-7)

Have we lost our voice? No, not our voice in the world, but rather our voice to the Lord. I believe that prayer is one of the most powerful spiritual weapons in the arsenal of a Christian. It is our way of connecting with God in the most intimate way, where He speaks to us, and where we speak to Him.

However, have we lost our voice to the Lord, replacing it with our voice to the world, or in many cases just plain silence? We have at our disposal as sons and daughters of God, a direct line of communication with our Father in heaven, but do we use it?

In the world, if we had a direct line of communication with the president, or a company CEO, the head of Apple, Nvidia, Google, wouldn’t we feel like we are so privileged, so powerful, and wouldn’t we take advantage of it?

Is it that we have lost the belief in the power of prayer, or perhaps never truly believed it in the first place? What happens when our voice in the world is quenched, who will we cry out to? Shouldn’t it be the creator of this world, the creator of voices, the creator of the heavens and earth?

We do have that within our possession through Jesus Christ. We have a voice not just with creation, but with the creator, and that is our voice to the Lord.

In today’s Psalm, the psalmist uses this voice to the Lord writing,

1 I cry aloud with my voice to the Lord;
I make supplication with my voice to the Lord.
2 I pour out my complaint before Him;
I declare my trouble before Him.

What about our voice to the Lord? Why have we given up on it? Why do we not cry out to the Lord with our supplication, complaint, declaring our trouble, saying, “You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living.”

And if we do, let us continue to use our voice to the Lord, not giving up on it, not quenching the voice, but using it until the Lord hears and responds to our prayers. Let us come to Him as His child, crying out to Him with all that is within us, because there is power in prayer.

And when we have done so, may we then open up our arms to the Lord, wait upon Him, listen for His reply, and hold on to hope for His deliverance.

Pastor Michael Lu
Enduring Word Bible Commentary: Psalm 142