A Prayer for God to Transform Our Sorrows
By Emma Danzey
“You have turned my mourning into dancing for me; You have untied my sackcloth and encircled me with joy, That my soul may sing praise to You and not be silent. Lord my God, I will give thanks to You forever.” - Psalm 30:11-12
Sorrow is not often a word that I hear to describe how someone is doing. However, this is a legitimate experience that many of us have encountered in our lives. The word sorrow is defined by Webster’s Dictionary as “Deep distress, sadness, or regret especially for the loss of someone or something loved: resultant unhappy or unpleasant state: a cause of grief or sadness.” Are you relating to any of these definitions right now? Which ones? This could obviously be an emotion of someone dealing with death or illness, but sorrow can also come with the separation of a friendship or the loss of a job. Anything that shakes us can shape us. If we invite God into the pain and questions, He can actually do some of His most beautiful work during sorrowful seasons of life.
The Psalmist David was no stranger to sorrow. He had real emotions and took them to God. Psalm 30 was a Psalm of praise for establishing the throne of David. The Lord had protected David many times from death, He had fulfilled his promise to David, and He gave him joy after a trying season. Maybe you have been in a tough and emotionally draining season. Perhaps it has felt never-ending. However, the Lord can transform your sorrows just like He did for David. This was not a guarantee that David’s life would be easy. His journey was filled with hardship and refinement, but the Lord was his strength.
Today, we are going to take our sorrows to our Savior. We are going to ask bold things of Him and call on Him with His Word. May we remember that He hears us, He cares for us, and He is working even when we cannot see what He is accomplishing.
Let's pray:
Dear Lord,
You are the God of transformation. In 2 Corinthians 5:17, you tell us, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” Would you make us new creations in you? Would you take our sorrows today and transform them with Your great power? You tell us in Matthew 11:28 to come to you when we are weary and burdened, and You will give us rest. Father, thank You that You have told us in Psalm 56:8, “You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book.” You are familiar with every detail of my burdens and what is going on. You know every tear that has fallen and every question in our minds. You do not forget us in our sorrow.
Jesus, you tell us in Isaiah 53:3 (reworded), that, “You were despised and rejected— a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief. We turned our backs on You and looked the other way. You were despised, and we did not care.” Thank you for being relational and understanding of sorrow. Would you see our pits and pull us out of them? Would you remind us that You yourself have been there too? You were a man of sorrows, not just one, but many. Minister to our hearts the way that only You can do.
We confess that sometimes our sorrows come on because of sinful decisions that we have made. We confess those to You and recognize them as sins. Help us to turn from them and live out our identity as forgiven. We also acknowledge that our sorrows can simply be a result of the sinful world we live in. Help us as we deal with the sorrow from the sins of others or from the hardships of the world around us. Lead us into Your peace. Turn our mourning into dancing, but help us not to feel ashamed for the mourning; help us to go to You wholeheartedly for the healing only You can provide. Thank You for your transforming work in all of our sorrows. Amen.
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